The Adventures of Kazdin Willow: Brotherhood of Steel
by FalloutGuy1986
Summary: Kazdin Willow is an adorably ditzy courier who wakes up in Goodsprings without even the comfort of her memories. Follow the perilous and oft hilarious adventure of one woman on a reluctant quest for revenge, who will discover where her true loyalties lay in the battle ahead. Smuttiness throughout, but I think it's classy. Rated M for a reason guys. Slightly AU after chapter ten.
1. Goodsprings

**A/N: Hello one and all, I have finally found a working computer which recognizes my word processor lol. And a shout out to my friends Matt and Ashley for allowing me to use their computer to start my main story. **

**This one is story one in the Kazdin Willow saga, and will introduce you to Kazdin Willow. Please let me know what you all think and i will update often. First few chapters up today. Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER ONE: Goodsprings**

"Aha! Excellent! Those bottles don't stand a chance against you!" cried Sunny Smiles as a youthful beauty brought the barrel of her 5.56 mm "varmint" rifle up to complete the task of unloading the spent magazine and slapping a fresh clip into the chamber.

Kazdin Willow stood back up from her crouching position, her beautiful blue, form-fitting dress billowing in the steady dry wind of the Mojave desert. She pointed her face at her month-long friend and the corners of her mouth turned up into a cute cocky grin.

"Yep, those sarsaparilla bottles don't stand a ghost of a chance." Kaz agreed with a cute Texan drawl, slipping her rifle to her well toned back. She stretched her arms above her head, interlocking her small hands as she closed her eyes. Feeling her back pop from her long day of training, she moaned and opened her eyes again.

"So, lovey, seeing as how I beat you, again, I believe its your turn to buy the Hooch." Kaz said, her lips again curling into an evil grin.

"That is so unfair," Sunny whined, "you only beat me by one, that has to merit some kinda mercy, don't it?"

"Nah ah ah," Kaz chastised with another grin, "you weren't complaining when you beat me last week. Now come on, no need to be a sore loser."

"Fine," Sunny said, shoulders slumped in mock defeat, "but we're gonna have us a rematch."

Kazdin laughed at her friend, causing Sunny to smile. She didn't know why she let Kaz get to her when she knew that her friend was only kidding. Sunny forced a smile and let her feelings slide right off, in the spirit that Kaz was showing.

The two friends walked into the Prospector saloon together, laughing about the number of geckos Sunny had been forced into altercations with earlier that day. To hear Sunny talk about it, she was facing geckos the size of horses, although she did say that they existed farther into the desert. Kaz had never seen one and did not care to.

"So blue eyes, you gonna ever go find that Benny guy what shot you in the head?" asked Trudy by way of greeting.

Kaz sobered, it had been a month since that fateful day. She had told herself that she was simply healing herself and learning to "walk" again by way of survival, but here she didn't quite know how to answer Trudy. She figured the truth was just as good an answer as a lie. She sighed as she drank the last bit of her beer down and placed the empty glass on the table to be refilled.

"Tell you the truth, Trudy, no I don't think so." Kaz said, nearly a whisper.

"You feel you ain't ready?" Sunny asked as she sipped her whiskey, the half empty glass tinkling as she set it down on the counter.

"Of course not, I was shot in the head, left for dead. Hell, if it wasn't for you and Victor I would have died in that hole. Hell no, I ain't ready." Kaz fumed. She hadn't meant to vent her anger at her best friend and her mother figure, but she felt so damn helpless.

The more she thought of revenge, the more Kazdin's head ached, and not just from the healing scar at her right temple. Somewhere out there, Benny was getting paid and laid with her package, the platinum chip, tucked square into his pocket just like his New Vegas whores were. The very thought brought an ache to Kazdin's head.

"Look, missy, you're tougher than gecko leather. I don't wanna hear about you not being tough enough to go find that prick. Especially after you helped us get rid of a top of the line tough hombre like Joe Cobb and 6 of his goons, not even two days after you woke up." Trudy said, a hand on her still well-defined hip.

Kaz looked at her new, full beer glass and sighed. She smiled back up at Trudy.

"Wasn't like I did it myself." Kaz replied.

"Might as well have. Ain't one of us any good at fighting. 'Cept Sunny here." Trudy explained, earning a chuckle from Sunny.

"And I'm only real good at shootin' geckos." Sunny scoffed, slightly embarrassed by Trudy's endorsement.

"Well, maybe." Kaz allowed, still unsure of herself and her body.

"Look, as much as it bugs me, you're a lot better than I am at shooting both sarsaparilla bottles AND geckos. You are the quickest learner I ever saw when it comes to the campfire recipes. And the way you handled that swindler by the campfires AND Joe Cobb and his gang, I couldn't ever doubt you." Sunny said with passion.

Kazdin simply drank down her beer and lay down 45 caps, paying for her two beers as well as her tab as she slowly removed herself from the ever-increasing comfort of the bar stool and made a bee line toward the door.

"Was it something I said?" Sunny asked an equally stunned Trudy.

The fire sat popping softly as the sun set behind the rocky red mountains, casting a deep dark purple hue across the desert rocks and sands. Kazdin's head swam as she thought the fleeting thoughts of the drunk, which somehow all came together here and there to form a coherent thought as she idly poked at the golden fire with a nearby stick.

The campfire itself didn't take very long to make, and neither did the gecko steak that Kaz had enjoyed with a fresh bottle of purified water from the Goodsprings source.

Now that dinner had been eaten and water had been drank, Kaz sat down on the log that sat next to the campfire pit, where she continued to gather her thoughts.

A crunch of gravel caught her attention and she brought up her favorite side arm, the 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and pointed the death end into the darkness where the sound had come from.

"Show yourself!" Kazdin shouted into the darkness.

"Well that's a fine hello to your best friend. I come out here to check on you and you threaten to blow my damn head off." Sunny said, a smile clear in her voice. Kaz groaned and placed the weapon back onto the log beside her. She mumbled a greeting and moved over to let her friend sit on the log with her.

"If I said anything to hurt you or make you mad, Kaz, I am sorry. That wasn't me or Trudy's intention." Sunny said softly. Kaz shook her head.

"No, it's not you." Kaz said softly, letting her blue eyes settle on the orange flames as they flickered in her wet eyes. It was evident she had been crying. Her shoulder length black hair was mussed in places and her rosy cheeks had tear lines on them.

"I nearly died. Sunny, that bastard nearly killed me. How am I supposed to go after some great Khans and a man who would kill an innocent courier?" Kazdin asked, turning her reddened eyes toward her friend.

"I ain't the one to tell you your destiny, honey. You have to ultimately do what your heart tells you to do. I'll be right here for you every step of the way though." Sunny said, smiling her best smile, from which she got her name.

"It's good to know you're here Sunny. I don't remember much of my past life, but I'm certain I've never known anyone like you." Kazdin said, a weak smile creasing her pink lips.

Sunny wrapped an arm around Kazdin's midriff and placed her warm head onto her shoulder and stroked her black mane. Kaz knew one thing, she felt comfort in that moment.

The two separated for a second before opening their eyes and shared a smile.

"Kaz, I…" Sunny started in a whisper before Kazdin cut her off with a smooth, soft kiss to her full lips, catching Sunny off guard.

The kiss lingered on for entire long seconds before Kaz pulled her warm wet lips away from Sunny's own. Sunny was intrigued to find a feeling of disappointment creep up her belly to her chest.

"Wow, I hope that wasn't too creepy or too forward." Kaz gasped, her crystal eyes wide and a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Umm…no?" Sunny said before allowing her actions to speak louder than her words by grabbing Kaz's small shoulders and pressing her lips to her bewildered friend's.

The heat quickly burned into a fire as hot as the one they were sitting so close to. Nimble, lithe hands caressed and thin soft fingers rubbed all along the two lovers' bodies. Kaz took the initiative and unclamped the buttons to the straps of Sunny's dark brown leather armor. After removing the metal pieces of the chest plate, the rest was a simple matter of very slowly unzipping various clothing restraints.

As for Kaz herself, Sunny found her removal process very much easier, as she unclipped the plastic brown buttons to remove the top part of Kaz's breezy pre war dress, the light blue fabric slowly removed from Kaz's chest by Sunny to reveal two perfect perky breasts, tipped with equally perfect perky nipples.

Kaz's supple breasts were lighter in contrast to her arms, legs and head's darker brown color, due to the Mojave's blazing daytime sun. her breasts and the majority of her torso, however were perfect alabaster white and very smooth and firm. Every inch of Kaz's body seemed to be perfection personified as Sunny moved her warm lips toward Kaz's nipples.

Sunny suckled as Kazdin's low voice became a higher pitched whimper as her thin smooth fingers found Sunny's light red hair. She pulled the band from the back and Sunny let her strands fall down over her shoulders as her lips did wonders and sent shock waves through Kazdin's breasts.

Kaz had Sunny's leather armor down around her hips at this time as her blue eyes gazed upon the smaller, but still soft and very edible breasts that adorned Sunny's chest. Kaz brought her hands up Sunny's body and squeezed the two globes, complete with their brown nipples, causing Sunny to cry out in pleasure.

The rest of their clothes seemed to fly off in their haste, the heat within their own bodies driving them on as they removed clothing and touched formerly forbidden body parts.

Soon enough the two lovers were laid out on a nearby mattress one on top of the other. Kaz lay on her back on the soft mattress while Sunny lay the opposite direction on top of her lover. The two girls' faces were mere inches apart from their respective sexes as they quickly licked, rubbed, prodded, and thrusting fingers into and out of their hot wetnesses.

Kaz cried out as Sunny found her g-spot with her fingers and her wet lips clamped down on her clitoris. Kaz's hips tried to buck, but were held down by Sunny's strong arms. Kazdin tried her best to push her pink tongue in and out of her friend's pink tunnel even as she went over the edge of her orgasm.

Kaz was nearly unaware while in her own blissful state of pleasure that Sunny had cried out too and released her own musky cum into her lover's mouth until she had to swallow to keep from choking. Her friend's climax spurred Kazdin on as well as her beautiful pussy splashed its own hot honey into Sunny's mouth, as the red-haired girl gladly lapped up the raven haired woman's offering.

Twenty minutes later, the lovers lay holding each other under the bright stars of the Mojave sky, covered in Kazdin's thick sleeping bag as they cuddled and breathed together.

"Kaz?" asked Sunny in her sweet as honey voice.

"Yeah, Sunny?" Kazdin answered, equally as buttery as she yawned the deep yawn of the well pleasured.

"No matter what you decide to do, no matter what path you take, no matter what road you choose, just know one thing. You are my best friend and I love you. I will support you no matter what." Sunny said as she cuddled closer to Kaz, who's eyes were inches away from Sunny's own.

"Even if I'm not strong enough?" Kaz whispered.

"You are." Sunny whispered back simply. Kazdin smiled as both sets of eyelids fluttered and finally shut, even as the campfire flame died down into nothing more than burning red embers.


	2. Kaz Meets the Two-Headed Bear

CHAPTER TWO: KAZ MEETS THE TWO-HEADED BEAR

Kaz was conflicted.

On one hand she understood Sunny Smiles' meaning in her "exile" from Goodsprings, except of course in the case of a medical emergency. Sunny believed in Kazdin and knew how her progress over the last month had been exponential, especially for somebody who last month had a bullet lodged in her head. Yeah, just being alive was progress.

But she couldn't get the feeling of betrayal out of the back of her mind either.

_After all, who does Sunny think she is, the sheriff?_ Kaz thought with a grimace tightening her facial features. She shook her head with a scowl. She would show her when she returned as somebody, dammit!

She trudged on even as she was lost in her thoughts. She shot at the random gecko or rad roach along the highway before she noticed the giant rollercoaster in front of a large hotel a few yards ahead of her.

The Bison Steve. She remembered Sunny telling her about it after she had recovered from her head wound and the later operation. This was where she could find the Mojave Express to dig up more information on her "murderers" as well as her mysterious package. She grinned with genuine excitement, taking off in a full sprint for the path that would lead her into Primm.

"Hold up, if you're planning on getting into Primm, you need to turn back now. Entire town is overrun with escaped convicts from NCRCF." A young male told her from beside the path into town. By the look of his outfit he was some kind of soldier.

"Umm, thanks for the warning. Who are you?" Kaz asked the man calmly. Outside she was holding it together, but inside was a cyclone of disappointment and worry.

_Oh no! Primm is closed? No information, no trail, no nothing. Game over man, game over!_ She screamed inside her own head.

"I'm Private Greg Mosher of the New California Republic, fifth battalion, first company. And you are?" the young man explained politely with a half grin on his face.

"I'm Kaz Willow. I'm trying to find some people who shot me in the head." she explained matter of .

_Wait, why did you just say that, dumb-shit? You find a guy who's cute and halfway decent and you say something like that? Get it together, girl!_ she mentally chastised herself.

"Um, did you just say…never mind. Anyway, I'd like to help you, but we don't have enough soldiers here to overtake the town. The assholes in the Bison Steve are holed in tight and are really well armed." The Private said with a shrug of sympathy.

"Although…maybe you can talk to the CO. He's in the tent on the left back there." Private Mosher said, turning to point behind him into a makeshift army settlement.

"Thanks!" said Kaz gratefully, "You deserve a medal."

The Private laughed and shook his head.

"Thanks. It was no problem. Take care." Private Mosher replied with a wave. Kaz waved back and skipped her way back into the camp. She noticed the two tents and opened up the flap to the leftmost choice.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. CO, sir?" Kaz asked timidly into the dim interior of the tent. A man stood up from a table and approached her.

"I'm Lieutenant Hayes of the NCR fifth battalion, first company. How may I help you?" the commanding officer greeted her with a handshake. Kaz smiled and bowed her head with respect.

"I'm Kaz. I was wondering what it would take for you guys to help Primm. I have things I need to do there and I heard from Private Mosher that it's too dangerous." she said, with a business like flair.

She could be derpy at times, mostly when she was just talking to a friend. However, when it came down to it, she leveled her head and got down to serious business. This was one of those moments.

"Well the one thing we need the most is bodies. We need to maintain a minimum head count at the camp here, but if you were to convince the brass over at the Mojave outpost to send us some soldiers, we could take the town. Even set up a sheriff for them. Looks to me like they need it." Lt. Hayes said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Okay, I'll try my best. Wish me luck." Kaz said with a beautiful smile and a wave.

"Good luck." replied the Lieutenant with a nod and a wave. With that the beautiful young woman disappeared from the tent leaving Hayes with hope of change in the near future.

It was hot. She was sweaty. She could hardly feel her legs. One thing she would never do again anytime in the future is try to climb a very large, very steep, very unforgiving hill carrying more than 10 pounds. She had 150 on her shoulders as she trudged up and up and up, her face so wet she could be mistaken for someone who just stepped out of a shower or an irradiated pond.

She wheezed, she groaned, she whispered various curses as she fell to her flat belly at the boots of a black man in a uniform.

"Can I…Help you, young lady?" the man asked, worried at the puddle of woman gasping at his feet.

"Primm…*gasp*…bodies…*gasp*…soldiers…*gasp*…Hayes! " the courier wheezed, desperately trying to make herself understood or even string together a coherent sentence within her intense weariness.

"Calm down girl, you're speaking a mile a minute." The sergeant said with a sigh.

"Blow *cough* me *wheeze*." she gasped from the ground. After a few moments to collect herself, Kazdin was finally able to stand shakily to her feet. She took a bottle of purified water from her own pack and swallowed most of its contents in one long drink.

"No need to get dirty." Sergeant Kilborn said rolling his eyes.

"Lieutenant Hayes at Primm says he needs more soldiers so that he can take over Primm, now how the hell hard was that to understand, mister?" Kaz asked incredulously.

"Um, pretty hard Miss." Sergeant Kilborn said with a sigh, "go talk to our commander, Ranger Jackson in the building on the right."

Kaz Willow moved slowly toward the building that Kilborn had suggested, limping and giving a sarcastic "Ow" every time she stepped on her right leg, which hurt slightly more than the other one.

"Citizen, merchant, caravaner or what?" sighed Major Knight with a bored expression on his face.

"Walking Mojave snow-blizzard, the fuck does it matter?" Kaz asked with a groan of her own.

Can nobody just say here's what we need, go do it and we will give you what you need? Did that not exist?

To Kazdin's great surprise Major Knight actually wrote down her sarcastic response.

"Just need something for the log book." he said with a shrug.

"Now, how may I help you?" Major Knight asked, setting down his pen and looking up at her with that same bored expression.

"Well Primm needs more soldiers down there so they can take over the town and protect it. I need to get into Primm without getting my ass blown off, so I figured I would just do what Hayes asked of me." Kazdin explained, calming slightly. She was still irritated but she would manage.

"I see. Well Ranger Jackson is down that hall. You can talk to him. I know that he has a job that needs to be done and then I'm sure he will help you as best as he can." Major Knight said with understanding.

Kaz thanked him and waved, finally happy to be getting some answers. She walked toward the hallway and saw a tall man with a handlebar mustache. He was wearing a leather vest over a white shirt with a brown cowboy hat and some pretty flashy sunglasses. Why he was wearing them inside Kaz could only learn in her wildest nightmares, but fashion sense aside, she approached him kindly.

"Can't let you go up north. Roads ain't safe." Jackson drawled upon seeing her.

"I just came from up north. So I'm fine. Anyway, I heard you needed some help." Kazdin told Jackson. He rubbed his prominent chin.

"No, we have it…You know what, yes I could use some help. And you look like you can handle yourself…you can handle something else come to think of it." Jackson said looking at the clothing stretched sexily around her bosom.

"Eyes up. Primm needs help. Spill it, Jackson." Kazdin said irritably. Jackson's eyes shot back up to hers and he reddened for a moment before continuing.

"Well the roads up north ain't safe. And if you were to help me with that we would be mighty grateful. We don't normally hire mercenaries, so I can't just pay you. Still, some requisition forms could get lost…" Ranger Jackson whispered conspiratorially.

It seemed to satisfy the courier. She thought a moment, blue eyes looking at the ceiling and her pretty mouth scrunched up as she thought about it. Finally she nodded with a shy but winning smile.

"I'll do it." Kazdin said sweetly.

Kazdin had sweat in her life, but even the cursed Mojave dusk was still sticky and warm. She knew that night-time would lead to a deceptive cold, but for right now she sauntered down the same hill that nearly killed her the last time, wet as she was when she had climbed it earlier.

Kaz had been smart this time. She had emptied her pack for safe keeping until she only had a few stimpaks, a couple of packs of fancy lads, two bottles of purified water and her ever trusty 9 mm pistol. But even with the reduced weight she struggled .

She mused to herself that she must be out of shape, but one momentary lapse in movement to pinch her lean tummy was all she needed to throw that notion into the incredibly dry Mojave desert wind.

With a smirk she continued toward the spot that Jackson had told her about. The old overpass on the long 15 was crawling with mutated ants, she could hear their scuffling steps as she drew nearer to the old crumbled overpass.

She drew her pistol and stepped up on the concrete ledge that had so long ago collapsed and took aim on the first ant she saw. The ugly abomination twitched its antennae and opened and closed its elongated jaws in anticipation of…something.

She pulled the trigger and its head was detached from its body. She only had a few seconds to kill a few more before they arrived at her position so she aimed and fired three more times, killing two more of the seven monsters below.

She was right, she noticed. They were now scurrying to her position relatively quickly. But wait, that shuffling sound behind her!

Kazdin rolled out of the way at just the right second to avoid the enlarged stinger of a giant rad scorpion. She sprinted to give herself some ground before she turned and fired a few bullets into the creature's eight legs.

This crippled the beast to allow herself some time to line up a shot with its eyes. Five bullets to the eyes later and the beast that was the giant rad scorpion was no more.

Kaz reloaded her 9 mm. she still had a job to do. Thankfully the ants were nowhere near as quick as the scorpions were. They were still a good distance away.

Kazdin allowed herself to breathe as she shot and killed the rest of the ants without having to reload her weapon. She did so after the last ant fell and holstered the deadly piece of steel and working parts as she steeled herself for the next arduous task before her: climbing that forever cursed hill to the Mojave outpost.

Kaz thanked God that the night air was much cooler than the daytime and made a mental note to walk the Mojave during the twilight hours whenever possible.

She smiled and waved politely at Sergeant Kilborn who returned the gesture with a solute.

"Good to see you aren't sweating to death." Kilborn joked.

"So he has a sense of humor. That's good to know." Kaz replied with a glint in her eye as she walked past. She nodded at a merchant who was still awake and leaning against a pillar before approaching him.

"You need something?" a man with a black beard and weary grey eyes asked, lips tight, not bothering to get up. Kazdin nodded.

"Just a bottle of water. Purified if you got it." she replied placing a hand on her hip. She idly noticed that her sundress had a blood stain on it. While the merchant perused his own stock to find the aforementioned purified water, Kazdin made a mental note to clean it later with a bit of abraxo cleaner.

The merchant returned a moment later and handed her the bottle. Kaz fished 5 caps from her pocket and handed them to the man who nodded his thanks.

"I'm off to bed. I'll be up at 8 if you need anything else." with that the man tipped his worn and beat up hat at the lady and made toward the pens. Kaz made off for the outpost building. She greeted a tired-looking Major Knight and smiled at him.

"Hey there Mr. Knight. I got that problem taken care of. Is Jackson around?" Kaz asked in her Texan drawl. Her pretty lips grinned, hoping his answer would be affirmative.

"Actually, Jackson is in his chambers. He won't be bothered until morning." The Major replied with an  
apologetic look.

"Aw, man! Shoot." Kaz replied, her hopes of getting this done tonight suddenly dashed.

"I'm sorry. I truly am, but that's just the way he is. Are there any other ways I can help you?" Major Knight asked. He sounded sincere which brought Kazdin's hopes up. Other than his apologetic nature, Kazdin also noticed just how flattering his uniform was to his body.

The tan color of the major's fatigues brought the blue in his eyes out, and she also noticed how nice the major was when he greeted and/or corresponded with her.

_And he's not half bad looking either. _she thought conspiratorially to herself.

"Actually, yes. I was wondering, what are you doing now that you are off?" Kazdin wondered with flirtatious eyes.

"I see one, are you ready?" the major asked. Kazdin nodded. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She wiped it away aggravated as her mind formulated the best possible solution for her current predicament. She could take the enemy's chance away stealthily, and therefore take out multiple targets at once without her enemy being the wiser.

Or she could go in guns blazing and take out the sure thing now.

_Decisions, decisions. _Kaz thought as she hunched over contemplating her next course of action. Major Knight waited patiently for her decision beside her, as the young woman sweat and contemplated and turned both decisions around in her head.

She reached for her weapon, her token of war on an unending battlefield as she wrestled her own personal angel as to what she should do. Both courses of action had their merit. She wiped another sheen of sweat from her brow before deciding. She reached quietly, reached, reached…

She then grabbed her kinged checker and jumped four of Major Knight's black tokens in a straight blur of genius intellect and checkerboard generalship! She stood and laughed haughtily as her king had also trapped Major Knight's final checker on the board. The only one remaining on his side of the combat zone.

"Major Knight, next round is on you! Ha ha ha ha ha! I am the best!" Kazdin cheered herself on energetically. Major Knight nodded approvingly and bought Kazdin her fourth shot of whiskey. It was a perfectly aged bottle that the major had paid top dollar for. A pre war brand called "Jack Daniels". The bottle and the liquid contained within were over 200 years old.

Lacy had a smirk on her face as she slid the 200-year-old whiskey poured perfectly in a shot glass before Kazdin's prying eyes.

"That was amazing, nobody here has ever been able to beat Knight in checkers before. He's our base champion." Lucy said surprised by the turn of events.

"That was good, but everything and everybody in the wasteland still sucks. I hate everything!" slurred Rose of Sharon Cassidy from the corner.

"She grows on you." Lucy said simply. Kaz shrugged and stood from the checkerboard, a smirk evident on Major Knight's face. She raised her glass.

"To a worthy opponent, a damn good barkeep, and a bitch who won't shut up." was her simple toast as she downed the burning liquid with the beauty and grace of a Texan woman. She rejoined the major.

"That was impressive. You're impressive." The major said somewhat sheepishly. It had been a long time since a beautiful woman had paid attention to him in some time.

"That Jack Daniels is impressive. Thank you." Kazdin countered with a grin. She placed her smooth hand on Knight's hand and looked into his blue eyes with her blue eyes.

"So, wanna get outta here?" Kaz asked the Major with a certain come-hither look in her pretty eyes.

"More than anything." the major replied.

"I see one, are you ready?" the major asked. Kazdin nodded. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She wiped it away aggravated as her mind formulated the best possible solution for her current predicament.

This time it was not a mere checkerboard she was faced with, but the danger of another rad scorpion. She and the major were hunched before an abandoned camp that Kaz had seen in parting when she was still sweat drenched and crawling up the mountain of a hill toward the outpost earlier that day.

What she hadn't noticed were the two giant rad scorpions guarding it. Apparently there was something in that camp that the scorpions liked because they were guarding it with a nest of baby scorpions. Oh wait, maybe that was it. No matter, they had to be destroyed!

Kazdin swapped her 9 mm pistol for a well repaired hunting rifle. She brought the iron sights to her face as Major Knight focused his semi automatic 5.56 mm rifle on the other threat. With a nod of Kazdin's head both squeezed their triggers.

Kazdin scored a very nice hit to the eyes, effectively blinding her rad scorpion, whereas the major seemed to only graze his target with his first shot. Knight's advantage was that his was semi automatic and therefore corrected his first grazing shot with a direct hit to the eyes, dropping his foe with four quick squeezes of the trigger.

Kazdin had a slightly tougher time but managed to fell hers with six squeezes and reloads from hers. The rest was quick work taking care of the babies. And now that the animal-family had been sufficiently murdered Kaz and Major Knight strode into the campground warily, looking for other threats.

"Clear." came the voice of Knight at one end of the campground. He lay a couple of frag mines as a safety precaution a safe distance away from the tent.

Kazdin pronounced the same and lay her two powder charges at the opposite end, giving themselves both a wakeup call should any intruders approach looking to make a quick looting by killing the tents' occupants, and as a damage dealer to make their work easier in dispatching said looting intruders.

Both grinned and chuckled as they set their respective packs and weapons down beside a well-worn picnic table. Knight fired up a lantern that bathed the area in light as he went over to the fire pit and placed more wood onto the char incrusted pieces left behind by whomever held this campground before their arrival. In minutes he had a nice toasty fire started. Kaz and Knight sat on the same log together as they shared a bottle of wine and Knight cooked a couple of Big Horner steaks for the two of them.

"You know, I can't remember the last time I was able to get away from it all like this." Major Knight sighed as he flipped the steaks on the fire and sat back on his hands. His eyes traveled to the dark-haired Texan seated next to him.

"There's a lot that I can't remember." said Kaz as she sat back and poured two glasses of wine as Knight tended to the steaks cooking over the open fire.

"I heard. Rumor is you were shot in the head twice and you clawed your way out of your grave and came to the Mojave to get vengeance on whoever it was." Knight said matter of factly.

"Partially true," Kazdin confirmed, "I can't swear it wasn't only a single head shot, but I had a lot of help. It took me months to finally make it this far, and I still have a hell of a way to go before I can find this guy."

"I had a lot of help," Kaz continued, "If it wasn't for Sunny and Trudy I'd still be caught up in Goodsprings."

The thought of Sunny and Trudy made her think. She had to remember to thank the two of them for their help next time she was in Goodsprings. They had their reasons for doing the things that they did, but Kaz couldn't help but agree that they were right and that they would not send her out without knowing for fact that she could take care of herself, and so far they had been proven right.

She shook her head from her memories and asked the Major to repeat what he had said to her oblivion.

"I said it takes an iron will and a formidable character to survive something like that." Knight repeated with an understanding smile.

"Can't say that I would survive that if I had a chance. Don't really want the chance to be honest." Knight said taking one of the steaks off the grill mesh and placing it on his own tin plate.

"Do you like medium or well?" Knight asked. Kaz answered in the former and Knight nodded before forking the remaining Big Horner steak onto Kazdin's plate to a delighted thank you from the woman.

As the duo embarked on their taste adventure the small talk dwindled into conscious thought.

Kazdin couldn't help but be attracted by Major Knight's caring and gentle attitude. His military honed manners and understated ways of expressing himself worked together to make the professional military man very appealing to the young woman. And his grilling skills gave him an air of suburban charm.

She took that opportunity to move her body closer to his. He glanced her way and caught her blue eyes staring into his dark eyes. He grinned and rumbled a nervous laugh while they finished their food and resumed drinking their wine.

"So what're you thinking about, Kaz Willow?" Major Knight asked with a lopsided grin. Kaz paused for a moment. She hadn't thought that he would just come right out and ask.

She grinned coyly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kaz asked flirtatiously.

"I would most definitely like to know." Answered the Major in the affirmative.

"Are you sure you won't have me arrested for…indecent exposure?" Kazdin asked, her voice and eyes softer as she edged closer to the officer.

"Your secrets will remain…confidential." Major Knight whispered as the two shared their first kiss. A slow buildup of lips upon lips in the full moon light.

Kazdin found the kiss to be…comfortable. It was just the right feeling for her. As she opened her full lips to invite the Major's tongue inside out of the cold of the wasteland, she noticed the faint musky taste of coyote chew on his breath as well as the minty-fresh taste of his toothpaste.

She pulled back with a comfy smile.

"You taste nice." whispered Kaz.

"As do you." came the equally whispered reply of the Major.

They resumed their steamy kiss as a coyote howled from somewhere in the distance in the night.

Kaz moved her arms to clasp the Major's strong shoulders as she squeezed the rough tan fabric covering Knight's muscled body.

She knew that she was not nearly as covered as Knight, and she believed this to be unfair, so with a smirk she started undoing buttons on the Major's uniform. She went smoothly unhooking the various buttons before lowering the zipper in the front of his uniform before pulling the two fragments apart, revealing the crisp white tank top which hid his hard pecks, but revealed more skin to the traveling eyes of the courier.

He smiled underneath her kiss as he slid the garment off of his shoulders carefully in an effort not to break the entrancing kiss he found himself in at the moment. As soon as the garment hit the dirt, Six traced her lithe fingers from the hem of his trousers and up the lean sinewy flesh underneath the undershirt stopping at the obvious scar her fingers discovered flawing the flesh of his left pectoral.

"That was a souvenir from the war of Hoover Dam. A praetorian shot me in the back, the coward." The Major answered the invisible question on Kazdin's tongue. She silently cursed the legion scum who would desecrate this beautiful man's flesh in this way.

On one hand she knew that war was fought to kill, but the Major would most likely feel that scar for the rest of his life.

She peeled the shirt from Knights chest and looked at the not unattractive pink scar flesh upon the Major's torso before she did something that the Major hadn't expected.

The beautiful Texan courier leaned forward and placed her full lips upon the wound for a few seconds before drawing in for a split second and raising her face to the Major's lips and kissing him again.

Six rose and took Knight by the hands and pulled him up. Hand in hand, Kazdin led the Major into one of the unoccupied tents and closed the flap before securing it. She turned her eyes to the half naked man before her and moved slowly toward him.

She reached him and placed her deft fingers at the button of his uniform trousers.

"Do you want me?" Kazdin's whisper creeped into his ear. He sighed at the feeling of her hot breath oYes. More than anything." he managed to sigh out. Kazdin unclipped the button from its captor.

"Do you believe in my mission?" another Kazdin Willow whisper made him shiver.

"Yes. Very noble." Knight had a hard time concentrating as everything about Kazdin seemed closer in the confined tent the two found themselves in.

As reward Kazdin pulled the zipper down before allowing Major Knight to step out of the constricting clothing. The tent in front of his boxers made Kaz catch her breath. She let it out audibly and massaged the sensitive piece of meat she found inside, causing the soldier to make roughly the same sound as she did when she discovered the semi hard 9 inch manhood.

The Major gently unbuckled the single button upon her shoulder. It almost didn't seem fair to the man as he choked back a laugh. The torturously slow process of the removal of his clothing versus the single piece of Kazdin's blue sundress.

Kazdin moved back a few inches, her blue eyes staring intently into the Major's in the heat of the moment, her perfect teeth chewing on her lower lip as she finally just let her garment drop to the ground, showing her prim and perfect figure for the first time to a man, at least to her knowledge. The look in her eyes was a silent wish for approval from the beautiful man standing before her. The grin that met her eyes caused her insides to shudder in relief.

Major Knight slid his rough battle-worn hands gently across Kazdin's shoulders as she sighed underneath the touch. She raised her chin and closed her long lashed eyes as the general placed gentle kisses onto the sensitive flesh he found there. Kazdin's thick black hair flowed down her back in the low light in the tent as she sighed in content pleasure.

Kazdin managed enough wherewithal to lower the Major's underwear before removing her own. She wished that she could see him clearly, but the dimness within the tent prevented that. Apparently the Major could read her mind because he pressed a single pill into her hand. He had taken his already and his eyes lit up as he could see her naked form clearly. He tossed the canister of Cat's Eye randomly on the ground as Kazdin swallowed hers.

The look in the Major's eye was understandable as a sudden green tinted vision of the tent before her registered in her brain. Every scar, every inch of Knight's manhood was made clear in her eyes and she enjoyed the view, as well as the thoughtfulness of Major Knight to allow her to use the pill to see him as clearly as he could see her now.

Her nakedness made him catch his breath. Her body was perfect from the full fleshy breasts that adorned her chest to the narrow of her waist to the swell of her hips and the small landing strip of black hair that rested just above the fleshy lips of her vagina, twinkling even here in the darkness with her arousal. She was ready. He was ready.

"Take me, Sir." Kazdin commanded.

"Yes, ma'am." he stated crisply before a smile crossed his face and he lay her down. It was only a sleeping bag, but to her it might as well have been a full sized bed. He lay atop her kissing her and supporting his weight on his strong arms.

He pushed the tip of his cock into the entrance of Kazdin's vagina before drawing back out and then repeating the process. Kazdin's hands never stayed in one place. They pinched his nipples before rubbing tenderly over his ribs and sides before rubbing up top on his thickly muscled back and up to his similarly muscled neck.

Meanwhile Major Knight finally pushed his dick deeper into Kazdin's willing wetness. She gasped out loud as he grunted, a union as natural as the sun's rising and setting. The Major reveled in the hot liquid heat he found his most sensitive appendage buried within.

He cursed softly as her tightness stretched, changing to fit him, that thought in itself turning him on just as much as the naked willing female before him, biting her lip and gazing at him behind half-closed eyes. She was perfect, and in her he found his own perfection.

He finally started thrusting in a slow but steadily rising rhythm, and Kazdin grew louder as she finally found the appendage her vagina was made for. He thrust and she moaned his name, over and over again as the pleasurable feelings grew within both soldier and courier.

The pleasure grew as Major Knight thrust in and out in perfect rhythm before a whispered 'wait' held his attention. He slowed down long enough to stare into the liquid pools of Kazdin's eyes. They held a smile within them as she whispered for him to turn over. The Major did as commanded and switched positions with the beautiful woman so that he was on his back and her pussy hovered over him.

With a naughty grin in her eyes and on her lips, she slowly pushed her body down on his stiff and rigid cock. The reinsertion felt wonderful for the both of them, the Major's rapidly cooling manhood feeling the wet heat wash over it once again, and the courier's suddenly empty vagina filling pleasurably back up again. Before long Kaz was rising and falling rapidly on Major Knight's nine inch long cock.

Both grunted and both sweat as both felt the incredible, nearly indescribable feeling of sex, and before long Kazdin threw her head back, her dark hair flying wildly. She closed her eyes and screamed out into the cold night air to no one in particular.

"Oh God, yes! I'm cumming!" her sweet voice echoed into the night. The Major held back his own impending climax just for her, gritting his teeth and meeting her wild erratic thrusts as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. As she came down it seemed the Major was right on the verge.

"I'm…gonna cum Kaz." The Major groaned. The words were music to Kazdin's ears. She threw herself off of him and his slippery dick before repositioning her face right above his twitching cock. In no time flat she had the sensitive member trapped in the wet confines of her mouth.

She sucked, bobbing her head up and down quickly, her hand clasped snugly around the shaft as she jerked him in time with her bobbing head. Her tongue swayed around and around the bulbous head as she sucked him to his own rapidly approaching conclusion.

Finally he grunted loudly and grasped the back of Kazdin's head in his large warm hands and pushed her mouth farther down his pole as his salty sperm coated Kazdin's tongue and lips. She swallowed as fast as she could even as drops of warm cum leaked out and coated her bottom lip and chin.

When the Major finished, Kazdin pulled his dick out of her mouth and cleaned her chin with her fingers, sucking the rest of the ooze from her digits before giving a playful and loving kiss to the tip of Major Knight's cock. He chuckled quietly as Kaz crawled up to join him on the mattress that he lay on. He produced a thick cotton blanket from his pack and draped it over their nude forms.

"Now," Kaz whispered.

"Wasn't that better than checkers?"

The Major laughed loudly.

"That was much better than checkers." he replied as they both drifted off into deep sleep.


	3. Kaz and the Pretty Red Dresses

**A/N: Hey everyone, I'm excited by the fact that I have finally contributed in a significant way to a web site I have enjoyed for a couple years already. I do feel the need to explain something though, from a recent anon's feedback. I appreciate all feedback I get as long as they are not flames. However, I need to reiterate that this story is not for the serious of temperament. It isn't exactly a parody, although some moments are really close to being parody. But I put the "humor" in the description for a reason. If you find that this isn't your style, there are a few stories that I like that are light-hearted, but also more serious than mine. I'd strongly suggest Ghoulmask's Human Nature or Capital Cowboys by . They are more serious in tone with a kick of humor, and they both ROCK. **

**Also, in this chapter we get into a controversial topic, which I merely intend to flesh out Kazdin's character. So far we have seen her personality and her sexuality explained very well, but we don't know anything really about her personal opinions and viewpoints. In this chapter we hit on Kazdin's opinion of homosexual agenda from the viewpoint of a bisexual woman. This is not to say Kazdin hates homosexuality or homosexuals because it would defeat the purpose as she is bi herself. In my head canon, extreme homosexuals will still be fighting hard for equality in a dimension where equality is given, hence a lot of characters within the Fallout universe. Seeing as how there are much more important things going on in the Fallout universe, it comes as no surprise that Kazdin is irritated by this fact and thinks it looks bad on her as a free bisexual woman. If this offends you, then all it takes is hitting the back button. I will delete all flames, especially when it comes to my characters' opinions or my own. With that said, please rate and review. Love you all.**

Kaz awoke with the light of the morning sun beaming into her eyes from the slightly ajar tent flap. she had picked the perfect spot to sleep, she though sarcastically.

She looked over to her side to see her lover from the night before, a major she knew only as Knight. Maybe he had never told her his first name, maybe she had missed it in their drunken checker-dance. Either way it was, to her knowledge, a first for her.

She thought back to the incredible night of pleasures and the lack of pain and blood. That didn't mean anything other than she had no hymen. It could've been taken by a woman wielding an irradiated dildo for all she knew. To her knowledge it was the first night she had spent with a man, and she had loved every minute.

It forced her to think about her spot. Did she like women or did she like men? It was moot really. She liked women and men. Except for Benny. He was a deathclaw turd.

She stretched her achy arms over her head. The night suddenly did not seem so long. Her eyes fluttered and she yawned long and slow before looking at the tent around her. For one thing, the bed sure didn't seem very comfortable.

The movement beside her betrayed Major Knight's awakening.

"Good morning, angel. That was some night. Thank you, seriously. I haven't had that much fun since I joined NCR. And I'm not just talking about the sex. Entire night was more fun than I've seen in a year." said Knight, propping himself up on one elbow.

"You were something else. You got the skill to make a gay girl go straight." Kaz laughed leaning in for a good morning kiss. The Major leaned back suddenly, Kazdin rendered frustrated by the lack of the perfect pressure of lips on lips.

"You're gay? Damn, I'm so sorry. I had no…" the major said no more as Kaz moved forward and pressed her lips to his. When she separated, the major struggled to breathe.

"Save the PC bullshit for those sensitive fags marching on New wall street. I ain't that kinda girl. Feelings is feelings and everyone sees them different. 'sides, I'm bi." said Kaz with a grin. The major smiled, nodded and finally breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't somehow taken advantage of a drunken lesbian.

"I am too. Interesting way to see it, I guess. I never thought of it like that." Knight said, honestly.

"It's the truth." Kazdin answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"Even with more important shit going on, those pussies still clog New-New York and San Francisco streets. It's like they got nothing better to do. It's almost as if there never was a nuclear war to them folks." Kaz said ruefully.

"Sounds like bigotry to me." Knight mused with a shrug.

"I don't give a damn what I sound like," Kazdin said with a shrug of her own, "they would call me a bigot if I told them they had bad breath and offered them a stick of gum. You cant even criticize people anymore without fear of being called a frickin' bigot." Kaz sighed and looked back at the Major who seemed to be withholding a laugh.

"Anyway, there are people out here with real problems. Yeah, I like women too, but you're not gonna see me bitching about gay problems. I could care less when I've got post-apocalyptic America to deal with. What's gonna be more important to me, a yao-guai attack or some tight little fruit bitching about how some business owner wouldn't give him a job for whatever reason? Like I'm gonna put down my shotgun to cry for the little bitches.

"A long time ago, President Tandi gave us the right to marry and keep equal jobs and we were no longer looked upon as second class citizens, yet most of the gay community can't stop complaining for one reason or another. It pisses me off." Kazdin finished with a deep breath.

The subject was a sore one for her. She had an image to uphold as a selfless good-natured woman, but she didn't want to think about what image a lower percentage of the gay community was casting on her. People treating her differently because she enjoyed the occasional taco. It was bullshit and she was sick of it. Post-apocolyptia was no place for Political Correctness. Not when people struggled to survive.

Finally the Major laughed and rolled his eyes.

"I don't give a shit about homosexual agenda either. Just like seeing the red in your cheeks from time to time." the Major said laughing again, and true enough, Kazdin let some crimson splash her cheeks before she joined him in laughter.

"But you laugh at me." Kaz said finally.

"Not so much at you as much as at your passion. But FYI, I happen to agree. Those people give us a bad name." the Major explained. Kaz gave a knowing tight-lipped smile and lay back.

"Oh, well, that's fine then." she replied, giggling. After a moment, she stood and stretched her lithe naked body.

"Breakfast?" asked Kazdin with a sunny smile.  
-

Kazdin burped, satisfied, causing a humorous chuckle from the major.

"What?" she asked with a chuckle of her own.

"Nothing. It's just like you're the perfect woman. A beautiful tomboy with a sense of humor. It's almost as if…I don't know, this is all happening inside of a book and the lead female role is being written by…a guy or something." the Major explained. After a long moment a streak of realization crept up on the both of them and they simultaneously turned their faces to look at nothing in particular.

"Anyway, I'm just a courier who was shot in the head. Nothing more, really." Kaz said, a shy spread of red splashing across her cheeks.

"You really don't give yourself enough credit, it seems." said Knight concerned.

"I've seen guys shot in the head on the battlefield. They don't get back up. You did. You are a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for."

The Major's kind words made Kazdin blush even deeper.

"I'm sure you say that to all the ladies with head wounds." she said in a whisper, brushing a strand of jet black hair from her blue eyes. The Major couldn't hold back a few chuckles.

"Less of a woman wouldn't be here to hear me compliment her, or to blush when I do." the major replied smoothly.

Kaz thought for a moment before nodding her head.

"If I wasn't as tough as I am, that blush would be on the outside." she agreed quietly, her eyes still down cast.

"Too true." Major Knight agreed.

Breakfast was delicious but the day had begun and she only had 24 hours to get to Primm and she'd better beat feet to the street if she wanted further clues for her attackers.

"Well it's been fun. I might just visit you again sometime, Knight." Kazdin said with her trademark crooked grin.

It was a grin that said she liked you. That said she wasn't going to blow her top on you any time soon. The grin that called Major Knight one of her very best newfound friends.

The Major grinned and drew her in for a hug. He had fallen into instant "like" with her too, especially her tough, never too Politically Correct attitude. The girl had spunk and he loved it.

"If we don't meet again for some reason, remember two things. One, thank you one more time for the time of my life. I really like you. And two, believe in yourself. Give yourself all the credit in the world, because you are the toughest little soldier I've ever seen."

Kazdin nodded, speechless for a moment by the sincerity of Major Knight's speech. She pulled away and placed her lips to his ear. After a quick ear kiss, she whispered softly to him.

"Major?" she asked softly.

"Yes?" came his whispered reply.

"Did you just call me a sperm?"

Kazdin Willow walked away to the loud, booming laughter of Major Knight with a New Vegas smile on her face.

Primm had indeed settled down since she had last been there. Had it really been only twenty four hours since she had seen the Bison Steve, Mojave outpost and the Vikki and Vance casino being patrolled by escaped convicts?

She walked toward the entrance to the Vikki and Vance while taking in the sight of soldiers milling about, building barricades and erecting tents into a command structure. She entered the cool interior of the casino and approached an old man. The only person within the structure to take notice of her and he seemed to be in charge of the motley crew of settlers.

"Hello, young lady. The name is Johnson Nash, and I hear we have you to thank for freeing us from those Powder gangsters." the man offered his hand, which Kazdin shyly took.

"Yeah, I may have had something to do with it." Kazdin affirmed.

"I know what you're looking for, sweetheart. They aren't here, they left quite some time ago." Johnson Nash said with melancholy.

Kaz nearly shouted in frustration. On one hand she did good for an entire town who held her in high esteem. But on the other, the time was wasted and she was no closer to Benny than she had been when she had left Goodsprings. It was incredibly frustrating for her.

"Now, don't get misty on me. Our former deputy may know something. He was following those no-gooders around. He may have picked up something. That's him over there at the bar." Johnson pointed toward a young man with long blonde hair sipping on a scotch, a depressed look on his face.

"Thank you Mr. Nash." Kazdin sighed. Johnson patted her shoulder.

"Don't mention it. You helped us." The man said. Kazdin grinned at him and returned his gesture.

"You know, I am glad to see you alive. You were always my favorite courier." Johnson said softly, his look of admiration nearly making her cry again, but she held it back.

"I'm grateful." Kazdin said before making her way toward the bar.

"Damned NCR rejects coming in, taking over my town." Deputy Beagle grumbled as he stared vacantly into his half full scotch glass.

"Primm wasn't ever your town to begin with." Ruby Nash replied, busying herself by wiping the bar down.

Wait, why was it that Kazdin could remember Johnson and Ruby Nash but nobody else? Could it be that the husband and wife left an indelible imprint on her mind?

"Hi Ruby." Kazdin managed to free her mind of her swirling thoughts so she could adequately pay attention.

"Well, I'll be! Kazdin dear, so great to see you! I was so sad when I heard the rumor that you had passed, It is so wonderful to see you." Ruby exalted, throwing her rag on the bar and making her way to embrace the young woman.

This time Kazdin did tear up quietly and she didn't try to stop the emotion bubbling inside her. She was ecstatic that somebody remembered her from her past life, but still crushed that she could not remember more than Ruby's name. It seemed like a crime to her.

"Why the tears, dearie?" Ruby asked concerned. She rubbed the younger girl's back like a mother consoling her child, and Kazdin leaned into the embrace and squeezed Ruby's shoulders harder.

"I only remember your name! I don't remember how I know you!" Kazdin managed.

"Oh sweetheart. You worked for my husband carrying packages, and every night when you returned for your payment, I insisted that you stay for dinner and sleep rather than shacking up in that over priced hotel across the way. It became a ritual that I dearly loved, Kazdin. You would eat and sleep here every night you were in town." Ruby spoke gently and rocked Kazdin back and forth in her arms.

"You became like grandparents to me." Kazdin mumbled. Ruby nodded.

"We love you, Kazdin." Ruby offered.

"I love you too." Kaz said, coughing to try and calm herself. After a few more minutes of embracing, Ruby separated and Kaz smiled sheepishly before wiping her eyes and blowing her nose in her handkerchief. She laughed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect to get so emotional." Kazdin said, taking a ragged breath and letting it out slowly.

"Don't you fret at all, young woman. We're just happy you are alive. Now what brings you to Primm?" Ruby asked.

"Work, as usual. I'm tracking down a lead on the men who hurt me." Kazdin answered. This caused Deputy Beagle to turn his head swiftly.

"You mean that flashy guy in that nice checkered suit? Had some great Khans with him?" Beagle asked, interested.

"Yes. Have you heard anything about where they were going? I would be grateful." Kazdin said, sniffling and trying to ward off the last vestiges of her tears.

"Well, I know where they went. But what makes you think I'm gonna help you? You're nothing but trouble. You're the reason we're living under martial law and why I ain't a deputy sheriff anymore." Beagle said with a scoff. He took another long sip of his scotch and set the glass back down.

"Oh you hush that up now, Beagle. This ain't nothing like martial law. They're strict but they are very fair. Our former deputy here is just mad that he ain't in a position of power anymore." Ruby chastised him as he scowled and looked back at the woman.

"Listen sir. These are very bad men who need to be stopped. I need to go find them and bring them to justice for me and for whoever else they hurt. You are a former law man, you have a sense of honor. Please honor me with their whereabouts so they can't hurt anybody else." Kazdin made a sad look with her eyes, reflecting the sadness in her heart. However her expression was also one of hope. She hoped that Beagle would see past his petty selfishness and give her the information.

Beagle thought about it. He seemed to turn the idea around in his head. He opened his mouth to speak and Kazdin hung on his every word.

"Nah, I don't feel like it." Beagle said nonchalantly before picking his drink back up. She grabbed him by the neck and pulled him from his bar stool and threw him back first on the ground before grabbing a head lock and absentmindedly resting her large breasts on Beagle's face.

As the duo wrestled for control on the ground, Ruby didn't stop the giggles that escaped her lips.

Kazdin won control of the fracas on the hardwood floor and wrapped Beagle in a chokehold, her strong legs wrapped around Beagle's.

"Now you know I'm all-state! If you want up, you gotta spill the beans. Tell me everything you know!" Kazdin declared. After a few more red-faced attempts to free himself, Kazdin locked her hold on stronger and Beagle's will finally broke.

"Damn it! They went to Novac! Let me up…you…you big meanie!" Beagle struggled plaintively. Kazdin gave Beagle a quick choke hold noogie before letting him up. He moved his way back against the bar and gasped.

"Thank you Beagle. I appreciate the help." Kazdin stated sweetly. Beagle simply lifted his middle finger, causing Kazdin to rain slaps down on the man's head and shoulders.

"Now…that…wasn't…very…nice!" Kazdin shouted at the man, who struggled to block the slaps with his upraised hands. The crowd of people who had gathered around broke out into laughter. Kazdin glanced up and sat on her haunches with a big smile on her face as she stood and bowed for her spectators.

"To all my fans, I bid you adieu." With a flourish, Kazdin made her way out the double doors, but not before stopping to hug the Nash's, promising to stop by again another day for a night of dinner, drinks and catching up.

With a final wave goodbye, Kazdin exited the building into the wasteland with a new set of coordinates in her pip boy, and she followed it faithfully as she set out for more clues to the whereabouts of her not-so-friendly friend Benny.  
-

The only thing between Kazdin and Nipton was the barren and cracked road and her thoughts.

She thought of Sunny and Trudy, her first friends since her "murder".

She thought of Doc Mitchell, who operated on her without asking for anything in return other than her own personal well-being.

She thought of Cass, the lonely drunk on the bar stool in the Mojave Outpost, who advised her to find the Crimson Caravan Company if she was looking for work. She hadn't been at the time but it was a nice gesture all the same.

She thought of Major Knight who was nice to her and gave her good directions and information, as well as the best time she'd had in a long time.

She heard them chatting before she saw them. Six renegades well armored and well supplied guarding a busted up brick building. Two were sitting by the fire, three were doing chems by the side of the building, and one guarded the rusting remains of a derelict Chryslus.

Kazdin crouched and pulled out her hunting rifle. She had meager weapons. A 9 mm pistol, a caravan shotgun, a 5.56 mm semi automatic rifle she had been rewarded with by Ranger Jackson, and her semi automatic hunting rifle. Her cover was just as meager. She had crouched down below the jutting remains of a brick wall and took aim. She squeezed the trigger in a loud report and the bullet took the nearest raider's head off.

Kaz quickly rolled back into cover and took out her new semi automatic serviceman's rifle and switched the safety off. As she expected, the bullets flew toward her general direction, but she had the brief element of surprise as she had ducked before the other raiders had seen her.

As luck would have it, four of the five Jackals that remained decided to take cover behind the ruined car. Kazdin wondered…

She counted to three before crawling out of her cover and squeezing off six quick rounds, causing the car to spark and make a screeching noise.

"Ha ha ha, you missed us little girl!" mocked one of the raiders.

_Oh, but I didn't_. Kazdin thought to herself even as the car exploded in a giant fireball.

As the dust and heat settled, Kazdin brought her rifle to bear as she popped out of her meager cover pleased to discover that her would-be attackers had all been killed. Even the raider who wasn't behind the car who had opted to stand in the street had his chest pierced with a sharp piece of steel. She was alone again as she searched the bodies.

Looting the Jackal gangs' corpses was the greatest thing Kazdin could've done. She now had better supplies, namely the badass new metal armor she wore to replace her flimsy blue pre-war sundress. She also saw fit to replace her old straw cowboy hat with a newer black felt model with a white stripe.

She also scored upgrades to her weapon situation. She didn't feel comfortable with the service rifle being her best, and only good, gun. She replaced her old 9 mm pistol with a sub machine gun of the same caliber.

The new assortment of sellable clothes and weapons, plenty of food and water and drugs which she would sell (she would never think of doing them herself unless she had no other option) had accumulated into a nice little score.

However, Kazdin wasn't her normal smiley self. She was troubled, for on the horizon she saw not peaceful blue skies, but rising columns of smoke. She kept trekking on that not so lonesome ribbon of asphalt until she heard a yell and a gunshot.

Kazdin brought out her newly acquired sub machine gun protectively as she ran off the road toward the noise.

She noticed a tall dark haired man who was looking at her with a panicked expression on his face. He would've been cute in her mind if she hadn't been so wary. The wasteland taught her never to take strangers at face value.

"Are you alright?" Kaz asked.

"Uh, yeah. That bitch pulled a gun on me, but I took care of her first. I picked her up on the road. At first I kind of liked her, but I think she wanted my lucky necklace." the terrified man explained. Kazdin noticed that the naïve man was young. Probably no older than nineteen.

"Why is that your lucky necklace?" Kaz asked.

"Well I thought it was lucky. Now I'm not so sure. See there are caps with a blue star on some Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles. They're pretty rare and I found six of them, so I thought I was pretty lucky. I made them into a necklace." the man explained with a sigh.

"Well you are lucky I don't care about any stars. So, are you wounded?" Kaz asked.

"No, I'm alright. She didn't get a chance to shoot." he answered out of breath.

"Alright, you're free to go. I don't want no sunset stars." Kaz said.

The young man thanked her. Kaz tipped her black hat with a grin before making her way back to the road and made tracks toward Nipton.  
-

The smell was the first thing she noticed as she neared the final few feet into Nipton. The town's air was permeated with fire and death. The stench in her nostrils causing her to gag and wrap a handy bandanna around her nose and mouth.

She drew her sub machine gun and crept cautiously into town. Everywhere her eyes turned she saw unadulterated horror. She turned the corner and wept at what had become of Nipton.

The tears stung her red eyes like the acrid black smoke and terror gripped her heart like a deathclaw ripping apart a mole rat. It was too much! Death on this scale was entirely new to Kaz and she knew she never wanted to see it ever again.

The powder gangers' bodies hung up on makeshift crucifixes, while other bodies were in the midst of burning on equally grotesque tires, the depths of ravage and destruction! Who would do all of this!?

"Hold, Profligate!" rasped an eerie voice that was so cold and devoid of human kindness that Kazdin would not be surprised if she turned to look upon the face of death himself.

The touch of his hand upon her shoulder caused a chill to creep up her spine. Kazdin could not help the shiver that crept up her body. She was held in the grip of death as she was approached by row after row of men clothed in crimson…dresses? Were those men wearing fucking dresses? Kazdin tried her hardest, her damnedest not to burst out laughing, and fortunately the fear of an abject lesson in Legion discipline held her lips. But later…

"Don't worry, I won't have you lashed to a cross like the rest of these degenerates. It is quite useful that you happened by." the evil man behind her rasped.

She was speechless. The very thought that Kazdin would be spared alone should have made her leap and weep for joy! If she wouldn't burst out laughing at those damn red dresses at the same time, she would have. But she stood stock still, holding her breath for dear life, her cheeks turning red from the effort.

"What I want is for you to spread the message you have seen here, especially to any NCR troops you come across." the vile Vulpes Inculta crooned. Kaz would risk death! The nerve of this man!

"Exactly what kind of message did you teach here? Other than the fact that you can kill innocent civi…"

Kazdin stopped mid sentence and could not hold back the guffaws of loud, ridiculing laughter that poured from her chest.

The powerful and evil man who had done these sadistic, atrocious and vile things wore the same ridiculous little red dress that the others wore. What was this, a transgender prom? But what had made her figurative dam break was that adorning this evil bastard's head was none other than a skinned dog's head! A dog's head! The vile murderous teacher with the heart and voice of cold steel had the fashion sense of a drunken Brahmin!

"What the fuck is so funny?!" Vulpes asked, incensed. In his many long years playing war with the Legion, no prisoner or warrior had dared to ever laugh in his face as this little bitch was doing just now.

"Oh…my…Gaw…aw…awd! It's…it's too much! Is that…a fucking DOG on your head?!" Kazdin struggled through an unabashed fit of giggles.

"I…I don't…" Vulpes started, exasperated and completely immobilized for the moment in his wonder.

"Yeah, great choice! It goes SO WELL with your little red dress! Do you have a matching dress in my size? Keep the dog head and god awful sunglasses though, my cowboy hat is better!" cried Kaz, still laughing until a hard calloused hand struck her cheek, and then instant silence led to murderous rage as she quickly reached in back of her leather pants, pulled a knife and jammed it in the lower jaw of Vulpes Inculta who stared wide eyed at Kazdin in disbelief that a "lowly" woman had defeated him in a battle situation.

Kazdin bolted as the shots rang out all around her. She took cover behind one of the homes and shot a pair of legionnaires charging her with spears. They died before they could throw any of the deadly projectiles toward her.

She fired bursts of automatic 9 mm fire toward the other legion forces who were firing with rifles and pistols. Two more dead, leaving five more to deal with.

She searched the body of the nearest fallen soldier to find a grenade. She smiled wickedly as she pulled the pin, counted to three and arced the explosive to land right at the feet of three of the five legionnaires still alive. The grenade exploded doing its job as it took out the majority that remained of the legion raiding party.

The two that were left were entrenched in cover so Kaz bolted out to the side of the building the other two were using for cover. She turned around the corner and quickly shot and killed the remaining two legionnaires.

After the battle was over, Kazdin fell to her knees, letting the adrenaline return to normal before returning to loot the bodies of the fallen. She cracked another smile and laughed all throughout her field stripping process. This had been the most bizarre day of her life.

Kazdin realized, however, that now that the Legion was after her, she would need some help. She needed a companion, someone to watch her back. Perhaps she would find one in Novac, which was her next stop.


	4. Kaz and the Sniper

**A/N: Alright, if you will recall if you've read the first chapter of Kazdin Willow: Adventures in Mount Zion, the first thing you will notice is that Kaz is accompanied by Boone and Veronica. We are getting close to the first time that Kazdin meets the sniper and the scribe. After that, I get to focus on the extremely fun to write character interactions between the three. First up, Kaz and the Sniper. :-)**

The walk to Novac was proving longer than Kaz had expected. She hadn't run into much trouble since encountering the dangerous men in red skirts, save for the marauding group of Jackal gang members, a band of Legionnaires attacking a trader caravan and three mole rats.

And here she was standing in the middle of nowhere, Mojave Wasteland chapter, with the gigantic green dinosaur in sight, even if it were no more than a tiny speck off in the distance.

Kazdin sat upon a handy rock outcropping and opened her pack, taking out an equally handy Caravan lunch and bottle of purified water - her last.

Kazdin sighed at the prospect of needing to replenish her foodstuffs again, but started to eat slowly to counteract the effects of slight dehydration. The wasteland had a funny way of doing that to a person. Annoying and fatal, but funny in its own way.

Kazdin's mind was a jumble of different thoughts. She thought of pasts, futures and pleasures. She thought of deaths both avenged and forgotten. Kazdin Willow thought about Benny. Would she kill him or simply ask him why? Only the future held the true answer.

Finishing her meal, Kaz moved forward to the speck of a dinosaur on the horizon after brushing her leather bottoms of any stray dust. She kept her eyes alert for any unfriendly specks in the distance. She didn't bother looking up. She knew there were no enemies in the sky. Well, unless somebody had invented some kind of a flying machine capable of raining bombs on the land from the clouds. That, Kazdin thought, was unlikely.

Novac was in sight, finally, standing tall right in front of her eyes. After supplying again from a friendly, if not overtly ditzy doctor, she made her way toward the opening in the fence of the village known as Novac. She noticed Victor right away, standing next to the happily displayed town sign.

"Well, howdy partner! You've come a long way from Goodsprings, I see." drawled the Securitron which had at one time saved her life.

"Hey, Victor. It's good to see you!" Kaz cried, throwing her arms around the robot's steel arm.

"I reckon it's nice to see you too." Victor said, the creepy smiling cowboy never leaving his monitor. It was comforting in a way.

"So, is there anywhere I could resupply here?" Kaz asked raising a brow, knowing full well there was no way she could finish her investigation without precious food and water.

"You could ask around in the Dino Dee-Lite Souvenir ship. They'd know." Victor answered, searching his electronic innards for the correct answer to her inquiry.

"Thanks Victor." Kazdin said, touching his steel exterior casing in appreciation. She moved toward the town with a wave and a look over her shoulder.

Her first cursory glance around the tiny town told her nothing important. The town looked normal, although some hidden, dormant survival instinct told her to be extra careful, just in case.

Kazdin made her way up to the rickety wooden stairway and into the dim interior of Novac's resident dinosaur. She strode up to the older man watching the counter of the souvenir shop and smiled politely.

"Well, howdy miss. What can I do for you?" the man asked. He sounded the way he looked, weathered, weary and wise to the wasteland.

"I would like to buy some stuff. Do you have supplies?" Kaz asked leaning on the counter which looked worse for wear and drummed her fingers.

"We have some stuffed T-Rex toys and some model rockets." the man said, somewhat nervously. Kaz looked crestfallen.

"What about guns and ammo? Food?" Kaz asked, hopefully. The man sighed.

"Yea we do. Darn it, nobody ever buys the T-Rexes." Cliff said shaking his head. He brought up an inventory list, which Kazdin eyed for a few moments. She asked about a particular weapon.

"What's this pistol?" Kaz asked, raising her blue eyes to look up at Cliff.

"Oh, I just call it That Gun. It's more powerful than the 9mm you have now. Uses 5.56 mm rounds which are plentiful and more than plenty powerful. They're normally used in rifles, but this is a real handy pistol. Easy to conceal too." Cliff explained. Kaz was excited.

"Okay, how much do I owe you for that and all your food and clean water if I trade in my 9 and 10's?" Kazdin asked, entering her own "Miss Barter" mode.

"Well your 9 mm is worse off than your 10 right now, so that'll hurt you. So how about I knock off 100 caps?" Cliff offered.

"No deal. 250 caps or I go somewhere my intelligence won't be insulted. I have 9 points in that particular skill, after all." Kazdin countered, folding her arms, looking momentarily angry.

"I'll raise it to 200 caps." Cliff negotiated after a moment's pause.

"210, final offer." Kazdin again countered. Cliff thought for a few seconds. The deafening suspenseful music was deafening. Then Cliff shook Kazdin's hand before she lay the rest of the caps down for her purchases.

"Well," Cliff turned away and spoke to nobody in particular, "Those guns were in pretty rough shape, but the price was right and those guns are a welcome addition to our store."

Kazdin collected her new favorite gun, 100 rounds of 5.56 mm ammo, food and water and left Cliff behind to apparently talk to himself. Kazdin thought of something and stalled with her hand on the door knob. She turned back.

"Say, Cliff, not to interrupt your conversation, but is there anybody here who can handle a gun?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Why, you'll want Manny Vargas or Craig Boone. Given the time, Boone has just started his guard duty. He'll be right upstairs in the Dino's mouth." Cliff said with a warm smile.

Kaz fished 5 caps from her pocket and placed them on the counter.

"Gimme one of those stuffed Dinos, please." Kaz said with a knowing grin.

Cliff's eyes lit up and he handed the toy to Kazdin, who immediately squeezed the Dino against her bosom.

"Your name is Mr. Chompers, and I love you!" Kaz squealed before she ran up the stairs, toy in hand, and disappeared through the wooden door at the top.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze! I'm begging you! Please don't shoot! You don't know me! I don't know you! We're strangers here in this wasteland! You need not kill me. I'm begging you! Spare me and Mr. Chompers! We've been good and Mr. Chompers needs to find his way back to his dinosaur family! I mean sometimes he chews tobacco and cusses and is late on the rent, but that shouldn't interfere with our relationship! You and me, come on, whaddaya say? Don't kill me and we can be best pals! Well, not best pals, cuz Mr. Chompers already has that title, but super-awesome best buds or something! So please, look into your heart, your moral fiber as a fellow human being and don't squeeze that trigger!"

Boone looked down at his boots, face red from trying to maintain his cold demeanor and squeezing his jaw so tight his teeth cracked in a superhuman effort not to laugh like an idiot at the poor woman's display.

He lowered his rifle. He had thought the red-faced and sobbing woman before him was an intruder. He hadn't really intended to harm an innocent life. She had just snuck up on him, but the poor girl's shameless display of begging had a somewhat humorous twinge to it.

"Umm, okay, I won't hurt you. Don't worry, get up. In fact, I could use a stranger." Boone thought conspiratorially.

"You only trust strangers?" Kaz asked, confused, between bouts of sniffling and trying to calm her racing heart.

"No, but you would just be useful as a stranger. No one knows you around here." Boone explained.

"Ah, I got you." Kaz replied. "Listening."

"My wife is dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her." Boone stated angrily.

"'Kay." Kaz said.

"Alright here, take my beret. It'll be our signal that you've found the bastard who sold my wife and bring him in front of the dinosaur. Then, put the beret on and I'll shoot him."

Boone's instructions were as clear as her reflection in his sunglasses. She nodded and left through the door behind her.

"Where to start?" Kazdin asked nobody in particular. Kazdin looked around and noticed a man in NCR ranger armor. As good a person to ask as any.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ranger, sir?" Kazdin asked timidly. The man turned around and smiled at her, clearly favoring one knee over the other.

"You may call me Andy, dear girl. Everyone does." Andy said, a friendly grin on his face.

Kaz smiled back upon meeting a friendly stranger, which was always good.

"Okay, Andy. Listen, Boone's wife died and he wants me to find the person who sold her, so can you give me any information on that?" Kazdin asked sweetly.

Andy looked at Kazdin with a frown of disbelief.

"Last I heard Carla and Daisy were becoming friends." Andy said, thoughtfully. Kaz thanked him and moved toward the Dino Dee-Lite motel lobby building.

She knocked on the door and entered.

"Miss Daisy?" Kaz called out. Nobody answered as there was nobody within the tiny room.

"Alright! Now's the time to activate…

**KAZDIN WILLOW, SUPER-SNEAKY SLEUTH MODE!**"

And then…she **crouched**!

And she was as good as invisible. With that, Kaz started sleuthing, looking under various magazines, paperweights, caps and fire truck toys, searching for evidence. Then she had the brilliant idea to look down.

"Hey! A safe! This will no doubt hold the highly classified super secret documents I seek!" Kazdin declared, once again, to nobody. She proceeded to unlock the formerly locked safe, and there she found it.

"There's a document. Signed by the legion and…Daisy Mae!" Kazdin shrieked. She then turned, placing the document in her pack and left the lobby room.

The outside air was cooling as night set in. she looked around to find the doctor who had tended to her earlier when she first set upon Novac, maybe an hour ago.

"Hi there. Can I ask a question?" Kaz asked, approaching the woman.

"That depends. Are you asking if you posses the verbal capabilities needed in order to form immaterial thoughts into recognizable word patterns in order to articulate an inquiry? Because only you know that." the doctor asked, dumbfounded.

"Umm, no, I was being polite. Do you know where Daisy lives?" Kazdin sighed. Where were all the idiots coming from?

"In that case, Daisy lives down that path, first house on the right." the doctor explained.

Kazdin gave a half-hearted thanks and continued toward Daisy's home. She would lead the treacherous mouse-looking woman to her demise and it would be one of the few well-deserved deaths in the Mojave wasteland.


	5. The 188 and a Trip to Boulder City

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this has taken so long to upload, but i have finally found a solution to my woes, but it is soo simple and sad that I am embarrassed to admit it, so suffice it to say I should be able to update once or twice a week now rather than whenever I can find an alternate computer source. A couple things about this chapter, this has been one of the best and most fun chapters I have written in a very long while. Also, this chapter makes very good use of the M rating, lots of sexy sexytimes in this one. So if you are underage please do not read, hit back right now. Finally, we go from the shortest chapter I have ever written in Kazdin Willow: Adventures in Mount Zion to one of the longest here. I was thinking of cutting it into two parts but I could not find a decent place to cut it. If anybody can find a place that looks good that I maybe overlooked, please PM me and tell me so I can change it and edit. With that in mind, please enjoy this installment.**

Were there other solutions? Probably. Did she deserve it? Definitely. These and other questions haunted Kazdin as she left the fenced in town of Novac with a new companion.

Boone had spoken to her about the killing, asking her only for proof. With an are-you-serious look in her eye, she showed him the bill of sale. That was all it took to convince him. After that, recruiting the sniper had been easy.

Now, with the coordinates locked into her pip boy of a place called Boulder City, taken with inexplicable ease from Manny Vargas' computer terminal, the duo were on their way.

The computer was Boone's idea. Apparently security was not Vargas' strong point. Boone proved early on that despite his fractured psyche, he was a smart crack-shot who opposed to his quiet and uneasy temperament, also proved to be a valuable asset.

Kazdin knew that she must build an army if she were ever to stand a chance against her new threat of Caesar's Legion. Perhaps the right choice was to join up with the NCR. Boone had said that they had the right idea.

He himself had been formerly employed as a sniper in the army's crack shot division, the First Recon Sniper Unit.

"The last thing you never see."

It was a pretty accurate catch-phrase according to Boone.

The walk was proving arduous even for a fit person like Kaz or Boone and soon enough, both were sweating lightly in the cool night air. The walk was slow and steady. Purposeful would be an appropriate term for the duo's gait as they slowed their jog only periodically so Kaz could check their course on the little white triangle that shone on her Pip boy's compass which lead them on. Kaz would sometimes need to make a simple course correction, but she was confident she was heading the right general direction.

Boone and Kazdin made small talk as they passed a solar power plant, a scrap yard, a dried up lake bed and they now found themselves five hours later, eyes heavy and throats parched, stomachs rumbling and spirits low outside of a cobbled together shack perched atop a highway overpass. Kaz grumbled as loud as her stomach and pulled her new 5.56 pistol and crouched down. Boone followed with a quizzical look in his eye.

"Could be trouble." Kaz answered the unspoken question that emanated in his demeanor.

Boone cocked his head for half a second, she assumed he had rolled his eyes behind his ever present sunglasses.

_So juvenile._

"That's the 188. It's a general store and restaurant. I'm tired, hungry and thirsty. Let's not go shooting up the place." Boone explained, his tone as dry as their collective mouths. Kaz nodded and holstered her weapon as she made her way up the hill to the top of the overpass.

"Hey. Welcome to the 188 Stop and Slop. Can I help you?" a male voice called out when Kaz and Boone passed by a jury-rigged bar. A good looking man of about 45 years was wiping the rough wood down for the night.

"How about a Brahmin steak, a mutfruit, and some pure water?" Kaz lay down 30 caps.

"Boone?"

Kaz turned to the good-looking sniper beside her.

"A steak and a beer for me. And a water, if you can spare it." Boone replied before thanking Kazdin softly. She grinned at him while Sam prepared their meal. A few minutes later the duo ate, filling their empty stomachs.

"So, tell me about your wife." Kazdin asked out of the blue around a piece of Brahmin steak. Boone was silent for a moment, prompting an apology from Kazdin. Boone shook his head.

"No harm done. It's just a sensitive subject. Don't worry, you did nothing wrong." came the gravelly, near whispered reply from Boone as he nursed his beer, chasing with water now and again to compensate for dehydration.

"Her name was Carla. She was beautiful, sophisticated. I remember just how lucky I felt that she gave me so much as a second look, let alone giving me a date when I sheepishly asked her. I could hardly breathe when she accepted my marriage proposal." Boone started. He paused to finish his steak and beer. After Sam, the co-owner of the 188 took his dishes away, he continued.

"Carla was pregnant when the legion took her. There was a distraction and I never saw that kidnapping coming. When I finally tracked her down to Cottonwood Cove, she was about to be auctioned off to be an officer's wife.

"Those bastards don't give a shit about anybody's life. They would have treated her like dirt, like a second class citizen. Those legion fucks saw her as nothing more than a fucking Brahmin.

"I wanted to free her so badly, but the legion were everywhere. I couldn't get close enough without killing the both of us. But my Carla, the love of my life, was not about to be sold off into a life of servitude and misery."

Boone paused for a long moment.

"There are worse fates than death, Kazdin." Boone said, staring at her.

The conversation drifted to small talk for the better part of an hour before the need for sleep claimed them. Kazdin yawned and stretched her thin limbs over her head. She picked Mr. Chompers up from the bar where he had been sitting patiently for his master to finish eating and talking and sat with him in her lap. She looked at Boone.

"I reckon I'm about ready for bed." said Kaz in her trademark Texan accent as she stretched her arms again, inadvertently pushing her chest outward, her lovely breasts in full effect even underneath her metal armor's top. Boone could not help but get an eyeful of the beautiful courier's perfect round tits.

"So, Boone. One bed, or two?" Kazdin asked suggestively, quirking a dark eyebrow.

_Did she catch me staring? _thought Boone as his mouth suddenly felt uncomfortably dry, prompting him to take another drink from his third beer bottle.

Women flirted with Boone often, but the other women were never as stunning as Courier Six, who had even Carla defeated in the beauty department. He kept his composure even as he stared back into Kazdin's endless blue eyes.

"Two." was his one word reply. He could see the dawn of disappointment in her eyes, but his guilt and his grief wouldn't let him lay with the beautiful, heavenly creature before him.

"Oh." was Kazdin's only word after the realization hit her. She had been too forward in her own mind. She was thinking he didn't like her, but was too proud to admit it, so she just shrugged and picked Mr. Chompers up off the bar for the second time.

"I guess Chompers is gonna have to keep me warm tonight." Kazdin replied as she stood from her barstool, walking a bit unevenly from her four glasses of whiskey, full up by her own request. Before she left, she leaned forward with her face only inches from Boone's. She smiled and kissed the sniper on the cheek.

"Goodnight Boone." she said out loud before whispering in his ear five words that made his dick leap.

"If you change your mind…" the courier whispered seductively before slinking off toward the tent, purposefully shaking her hips.

"This will be interesting." Boone said aloud, shaking his head, his eyes never leaving Kazdin's backside.

"You gay?" Sam asked suddenly, breaking Boone from the hypnotic sway of the courier's hips.

"No, not at all. Why?" Boone asked.

"If it was me, I wouldn't let a woman like that go." Sam answered with a shrug.

"You're probably right, Sam." Boone said right before he ordered another beer.

The morning came with a slight breeze, the sunrise bringing stunning colors to the steadily warming sands of the Mojave. The birds chirped like a gentle alarm for man and woman to rise and start a busy day of travel and adventure.

At least that would have been the way it happened if there were a breeze or any birds still alive in the grimy, dirty, sweaty desert locale in which Kaz and Boone awoke to. The only birds around were the ravens, whose screechy caws were far from soothing. It was the same locale the duo would awake to for the rest of their lives unless they left.

"Ahh, good morning, Mr. Chompers. Sleep well?" Kazdin asked, squeezing her plushy toy against her chest after a long comfortable sleep.

"I worry about you sometimes, Kaz. If that thing hasn't answered you yet, it isn't going to." Boone said from his own bed. His eyes were still closed but he was waking up steadily.

"Oh, lighten up, Mr. Man." Kazdin giggled as she threw the sheets from her lithe naked form. Boone noticed this and before she caught him staring, managed to pry his eyes away from her shapely nude ass and a frustratingly unrevealing view of the side of her breast. It wasn't very risqué, but definitely arousing as Boone's boxers tented in response to the warm, smooth flesh that presented itself to him. He forced himself to turn his head, but the damage was done.

"Are you getting up any time soon, Mr. Boone?" Kazdin sang out as she threw on her white cotton panties and a black bra.

"Umm, eventually. Why?" Boone answered sheepishly.

"What's the problem?" Kazdin asked turning around, but stopped before the reason entered her mind.

"Having a bit of a **hard** problem?" Kazdin asked coyly. Boone stammered before Kazdin approached him and placed a single digit to his lips. She smiled sexily, a warm look in her eyes before she slowly drew to her knees before the bed which Boone now sat, his sheet covering his manhood.

"When was your last wash?" Kaz asked, her voice playful and sexy as she stared into his eyes.

"Umm, it's been about a day. The same day we left Novac." Boone managed. Kaz grinned, her pearly white teeth showing as she stared sexual daggers at Boone's face. She drew near him and he jumped nervously as she placed her warm hand on top of the cover that hid his aching dick underneath.

No more words were spoken as Kaz removed the blanket and placed her hands on the tent in Boone's boxers. She slowly kneaded the hard flesh that she found within through the fabric making Craig Boone, the cold as steel killer, moan and shake, completely under the control of Kazdin's masterful hands.

When she removed the fabric from around Boone's manhood, he realized that her scarred and rough hands quickly turned to velvet as they wrapped themselves around him like a gentle vice of heat slowly squeezing and moving up and down.

Boone groaned and closed his eyes as he spread his legs further. He didn't know how long the thrill of her hands stroked him, but soon enough his eyes opened and looked down when he felt the gentle shock of a cool wet mouth wrapping around the head of his meat.

She moaned aloud as she took him into her mouth. He tasted a bit sweaty, but not overpoweringly so. There was a lack of showers in the wasteland outside of the major settlements, so Kazdin decided to blow him while she still could.

She relaxed her mouth and took him all the way inside. She moaned in surprise at how much she could take. The last man she had sex with was Major Knight and that seemed to be weeks ago although it was only a few days.

Boone was larger than Knight by about three inches and Kazdin was amazed at herself when she managed to take over half of Boone into her throat before she had to ease off in order to allow herself breathe.

"Kazdin, where did you learn that? That's never happened to me before." Boone whispered quietly. As Kazdin thought about her answer, her hands resumed their steady stroking. Finally she gave up on her defunct brain.

"I don't know." she said simply before lowering her head once again and taking him into her mouth.

Boone had been blown before, but never this skillfully. Also he noticed a difference between Kazdin's mouth and his late wife's. Carla's had been very warm and wet. Kazdin's mouth, while just as wet as Carla's, was significantly cooler only delivering a scant amount of heat.

It was a cool wetness that was wrapped around Boone's cock instead of a warm wetness, and the way she moved her mouth, sucking and using her lips along with her tongue was exquisite. This was definitely the way to wake up in the morning his energized brain thought.

Kazdin resumed her sucking in and out, steadily increasing the speed with which she inhaled him. She wrapped her velvety warm hand around his shaft while she sucked Boone's manhood up and down quickly, her wet tongue running slow laps around his glans.

She pulled her mouth upward until her lips barely touched the head of his cock and she used her tongue to circle around Boone's sensitive dick head in speedy circles while she stroked him, before easing him all the way back and deep-throating him expertly.

Boone felt it was about that time. With a gravelly voice that nearly made Kazdin spit him out in laughter, Boone announced his climax was coming fast. Kazdin moaned sexily before doubling her efforts to get Boone off.

As he started to shudder and she felt his balls tighten, Kazdin shoved as much into her throat as possible and moaned out loud when she felt his first streams of semen hit the back of her throat. She gulped once, twice, three times before the torrents subsided into a couple much weaker dribbles. She gulped the last of it down and released Boone's member from its pleasurable wet prison.

She sat back on her knees and stared amused up at Boone as he sat back on his hands breathing hard and trying to form words.

"Thank you, Kaz. That was wonderful." was all he managed to say. Everything else seemed to smutty and too stupid to escape his lips. Kazdin's eyes lit up.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. And now you owe me. Mr. Chompers keeps me warm, but I don't want to have to resort to taping a dildo between his legs and riding him." Kazdin said with a giggle.

"Well, I suppose I do owe you from now on." Boone said, smiling back at Kaz.

"Alright then, sleepy head, rise and shine. Time to get going." Kazdin said clapping her hands. She straightened her underwear and set about the long task of applying her metal armor and snapping it up to where it was comfortable for her to walk in.

Boone was right behind her as he dressed in his beige cargo pants and a tight white tank top, which Kaz did not fail to notice clung to his muscular frame very well.

Kaz winked in approval before leaving the tent with Boone right beside her. They made small talk on the way to the bar to eat a quick breakfast before setting off onto the trail.

"So, agenda for today. I think we can make it to Boulder City by noontime at best." Kazdin drawled. She looked to Boone for confirmation of her idea. He thought it over before making his answer known. She was very patient with him as he thought of the distance to their target.

His thoughts were a tug of war on Kazdin's inquiry and his thoughts of Carla. He just had the greatest surprise fellatio he had ever experienced in his life, and his thoughts had stayed with Kazdin the night before when he was supposed to be sleeping in his bunk, but instead opting to watch Kaz sleeping, hugging her new stuffed toy close to her heart, a smile ever present on her face as she slept.

He still mourned Carla, but he'd only met the courier the day before, and yet she already rented space in his head. She was his charge of protecting, yet it seemed she also wanted to be his lover, and he didn't feel he was ready for a relationship. Oh God, the hurt still remained in his torn heart, but he felt the pain lift ever so slightly when he had conversed with Kazdin, and he realized he had forgotten his late wife's own name when she had been sucking on him.

She was also his employer and his object of respect. He knew he would have a lot of thinking to do on the way to Boulder City. What was he to do with these newfound thoughts and feelings?

"Yes, I can agree with your estimate. Shouldn't take long." Boone rambled when he noticed the courier looking at him and realizing that he had taken several minutes to reply. He opened his mouth to speak again, hesitated and then closed it before looking back ahead to the bar.

"What?" Kaz giggled as she asked the question.

"I was just wondering what it's like. Living without a memory." Boone thought aloud.

The silence in the air grew thick as the sand storms in hidden valley. She didn't know what to say for a moment. Kazdin placed her hand on Boone's shoulder. She felt she should say **something **but it was a difficult question.

"Let me say first what I think about your difficult job at Cottonwood Cove. I sense that you still don't know how I feel about that act." Kazdin started. She was silent for a moment longer, deciding how to word her opinion.

"I understand your choice could not have been easy. But I'm sure you made the best one." she answered finally. Boone started to reply, but she held up a hand for silence as she was not finished.

"You're beating yourself up for what I would call a mercy killing. You saved your wife from a life of zero equality, freedom and a very low standard of living. Your son would have grown to be a killer. If the shoe is on my foot, I hope you would do the same to me. If I am ever in a situation where there is no hope for me other than being some Legion asshole's fuck slave, I want you to end it for me. Do you understand?" Kazdin demanded.

Boone could not say it.

"Boone. I am speaking as your boss right now. If I am ever trapped with the Legion with no way out, then I want you to kill me. Right between the eyes. That isn't hard for a sniper of your caliber." Kazdin said, serious as a heart attack.

Boone could only nod. Emotion choked his airway at the show of mercy, forgiveness and most shocking, agreement. He could say nothing more.

"Now you can accept what I've said right now any way you want to. I hope you take it to heart and actually start to like me, but that's all up to you. But you did the right thing." Kazdin finished.

Boone nodded his understanding, unable to speak.

"Now as for myself, I don't really remember anything before Doc Mitchell's house in Goodsprings. That man saved my life and I could never truly repay him. You have no idea what a mind-trip it is to visit your own grave. There was no marker, just a four foot hole in the ground.

"This mission…it was truly thrust upon me by my best friend Sunny Smiles. I never wanted this. But now I have to complete it. I have no other option. Benny has to pay for what he did to me. I was just a courier before I woke up and I only know that because the Doc gave me a parcel I was supposed to deliver and it had the bare facts.

"I don't know if I was an actual soldier or just a mail man, but as of my rebirth, I was not a soldier. But no matter what my own desires are, this is too important for my insecurities. My reluctance aside, I have to follow this road."

Boone understood Kazdin's point. He had only ever known reluctance to do something his superiors had commanded of him one time outside of Bitter Springs. He could not understand that point, because it was where he and Kazdin differed. He could never understand reluctance toward his orders, while she could not fathom a solid military mindset. As she said, she was only a mail man.

"Come on. The first step is always the hardest." Boone said, offering his hand which she took gratefully. There was truly nobody the wasteland had not touched significantly. Even the brightest angel beside him had been tarnished by the cruel hand of the wastes.

"I've taken the first step. My first step was the first step out of my grave." Kaz answered while the duo walked. She held the makings of a survivor and a military woman. He had known her for only 24 hours, but he was not blind.

"Hey, got a minute?" called a perky voice as Kaz and Boone crossed the old overpass. The pair had breakfast on their minds and a fellow wastelander was calling for their help. Boone couldn't help but feel a bit miffed.

"Kaz…" Boone whispered, drawing her stare before she waved back to the slight hooded woman a few yards ahead of them.

"Yeah?" she whispered back.

"Listen, if she needs something done, just politely decline. She strikes me as a weird one. Don't know what to make of her." Boone instructed. This earned him a well-meaning shrug and nothing more as Kazdin approached the other woman.

"Hi there. Can I help you?" Kaz greeted enthusiastically, placing a dangling Mr. Chompers into her breast pocket where he could ride with his little green fuzzy head sticking out to see the sights.

"Hey. My name's Veronica Santangelo." the woman introduced herself.

"And you are?"

The woman seemed friendly enough, so Kaz shyly shook her hand.

"My name's Kazdin, but you can call me Kaz."

"Cool name. It's unusual." Veronica commented.

"Is there something you need, lady?" Boone interjected impatiently. Kaz gave his shoulder a playful slap.

"Don't mind him, he's just cranky cuz he didn't get any last night." Kaz laughed at her own joke as Boone rolled his eyes. Veronica laughed as well.

"Anyway, Mr. Sunshine over here is Craig Boone. And this bad boy here is Mr. Chompers." Kazdin stated pointing to her breast pocket and the little green head that poked out.

Veronica laughed and shook the little guy's hand.

"So really, what can we do for you?" Kazdin asked, getting down to business.

"First I have a question for you. I had this run in with a group calling themselves the brotherhood of steel. Do you know anything about them?" Veronica asked, raising a black eyebrow.

"Well, actually I heard that they are ten feet tall and shoot laser beams from their eyes." Kazdin said with a smirk. This took Veronica aback.

"Say what?" Veronica said, unbelieving the answer she had just received.

"I'm just kidding. They wear power armor and hunt for old technology. I think they are dreamy. I've wanted to become a member for a long time. I don't remember a lot from my old life, but I have memories of reading books about them and finding them fascinating."

"Yea, she kids a lot, but you get used to it." Boone chimed in, making Kazdin smile.

"Yep, seems like she's a girl after my own heart." Veronica said. She loved a sense of humor.

"Anyway, where are you guys heading?" Veronica asked.

"New Vegas. Going to meet an old friend." Kaz replied, telling a half truth.

"Well, I hope you give your friend a proper hello." Veronica said, "Anyway, I don't want to seem too forward, but can I tag along with you? It would be great to get out."

"It doesn't look like you bring too much to the table." Boone commented with a frown. Kaz nodded her head in agreement.

"Good, that's the look I was going for. I'm tired of living in my hole in the ground." Veronica mused.

"Wait, you live in a hole in the ground?" Kazdin asked, confused.

"Well, a bunker if you want to get technical. But I think it sounds cooler my way." Veronica elaborated quickly.

"I'll say." Kazdin remarked. She thought for a moment before deciding that she was okay with it. She looked to Boone.

"Your choice." Boone muttered, Kaz assumed he had looked away behind those glasses.

"Alright, I'm game. Welcome aboard the S.S. Awesome!" Kaz cried. Veronica beamed, happy that she had made a new friend and was able to leave the tiny 188 settlement behind, hopefully for good.

"Great! Thanks, you won't regret this at all. And just one more thing. I brought up the Brotherhood before because I'm actually one of them. I had to see how you would react. We've made a lot of enemies in the past." Veronica admitted and she waited nervously for the leader's verdict.

"Actually, I feel better knowing that you have combat experience. Protecting two people may prove to be very taxing to me. Boone!" Kaz teased.

"Wait, are you kidding me? You're Brotherhood? You gave my team hell at Helios One. The Brotherhood are enemies of the NCR, and you want to take this one along too?" Boone challenged, anger in his raised voice.

Kaz's hand instinctively went to the 5.56 mm pistol at her hip, her eyes leveled in a second before she spoke carefully. She went from derpy to deadly in about two seconds.

"Boone, stand down," she spoke gently but her words carried deadly weight behind them, "I don't care what this Brotherhood has done to your people in the past, this one has done nothing to you."

Kazdin waited for his response with an icy stare. She would not go hostile unless Boone did, and after their small display of intimacy in the tent earlier, she didn't think he would. However, her team was not the Legion. Kazdin Willow would stand her ground, and she would keep peace within her ranks.

"They are zealots who worship and hoard technology that the NCR could use to promote more strength for our army." Boone insisted, even as the fire left his voice and his posture cooled.

"How is that? By threatening the whole of the Mojave? If NCR had access to the Brotherhood's weaponry, you could simply point the detonator of the Skylark II orbital bombardment satellite and clear some group of people off the map on a whim!

"You would become too powerful and you know it. I don't agree with everything the Brotherhood does, and there are some things I think totally suck about them, about us. But we are saving you from yourselves." Veronica spoke with great conviction.

"She has a good point Boone." Kazdin reasoned. Her hand left her gun when she noticed Boone's body language mellow out.

"That's true." Boone said deep in thought.

"Alright, fine. But I'll be watching you from now on until I can trust you." Boone said icily.

"That's fine. But know this, I never stopped watching you two. Since last night I've watched everything you've done. **Everything**." Veronica said, looking between Kazdin and Boone, who both blushed at the notion that somebody had seen their morning activity.

"The point is, if keeping an eye on me helps you sleep at night, go for it, I have nothing to hide. But do NOT underestimate me." Veronica stated in a voice of steel. Boone narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent.

"So… friends?" Kazdin interjected. Boone nodded after a moment.

"Hug." Kazdin said simply.

"What?!" both Boone and Veronica shouted in unison.

"Hug it out. We can better work together if we like each other. I want you two to end up liking each other. So hug. At least later on you'll be able to think of this moment and laugh together." Kazdin explained with a shrug.

Boone and Veronica stared at each other. It was uncomfortable to say the least. Neither really wanted to, but they could not deny that the closer they got to each other, the ridiculous nature of this exercise made their faces twitch, both fighting inappropriate laughter.

Finally the duo wrapped their arms around each other awkwardly and they lay their heads on one another's shoulder and squeezed. The hug complete, they separated and looked back to the courier.

"Satisfied?" Boone asked, while Veronica still fought a smile.

"Almost. Now we're gonna do trust exercises." Kazdin demanded, sitting on a handy concrete pillar.

"Kaz!" Boone said incredulously.

"The longer you wait, the longer it'll be before we can eat and get going." Kazdin sang out.

Boone and Veronica looked at one another for a moment, Boone scowling and Veronica's lips fighting the oncoming laughter.

Kazdin was happy that they had hugged each other, somewhat awkwardly, but she didn't know what to say or do. Her newfound friends seemed to be just waiting for the other to give them an excuse to blow their head off.

Veronica and Boone never took their eyes off of each other. Boone needed to learn to let old grudges pass. This woman likely had nothing to do with the NCR's defeat at Hoover Dam, and then the NCR drove them out of this Helios One place, whatever that was.

However, even if she had everything to do with the NCR's defeat and even if she was a direct enemy at Helios, it was a grudge that Kaz would have no part of. They were allies and both were super easy on the eyes, but she would not let them be at each other's throats, no matter the cost.

"Veronica and Boone." Kazdin finally called out, turning to look at the faces of the two sour pusses.

"Yes?" both responded in unison.

"Basically this team dynamic sucks ass and we need to learn to trust each other." Kazdin started. This caused the two in question to look at one another before they decided that they didn't like their respective views and looked away with a collective _humph _sound.

"See, this is what I mean, right here. We wont make it if we are expecting to be shot in the back. Now I can see New Vegas in the near distance. We could get there by tomorrow, following this Boulder City detour, but we are going to take a break and do some trust building exercises." Kazdin explained, barely containing her super adorable rage and frustration. Boone was so dumbstruck that he did a double take. Veronica looked equally surprised.

"You have to be kidding me. Trust exercises?" Boone spat, the words foreign and obscure on his lips.

"I have to agree with Boone here. Why trust exercises?" Veronica wondered aloud, unintentionally agreeing with a man she saw as a brutishly annoying and silent NCR military dog.

"Because, the tension is so thick and palpable that its giving me a headache. Its like you hate each other without knowing each other, and that is hate without excuse."

"Well, I'm in if Grunt here is." Veronica grudgingly agreed.

"Ill do it if this Brotherhood whore will stop trying to bait me." Boone added gruffly.

"Like you need me to…**bait **you." Veronica said, averting her eyes and cursing herself that she couldn't think of a better line.

"Make me." Boone responded.

"What?" Veronica asked, confused.

"What?" Boone repeated, equally scratching his head.

"Enough!" Kazdin demanded.

"Trust exercises right now for however it takes to get you both to trust each other."

Boone grunted ambiguously. This would be a long morning, and at this pace she would likely never meet Benny.

"Okay students, take your seats." Kazdin said, indicating two hard metal chains she had seemingly concocted out of thin air.

"These chairs have seen better days." Grunted Boone, his eyes wide with wonder underneath those ever present sunglasses.

The trio had eaten and sensitivity training was about to commence.

"Just sit." Kazdin repeated, face palming in frustration. The man and woman before her sat slowly, leaning forward to listen.

"Now, this is a company and being together in a group is a bond. A bond requires trust, something that is sickeningly lacking so far among all of us members." Kazdin began. Boone and Veronica blinked blankly a few times.

"That's because the new girl is a Brotherhood whore." Boone chimed in.

"Oh cute! Next you'll call me a poopie-face. What're you ten?" Veronica said, rolling her eyes.

"Quiet! Both of you! Idiots…I'm, surrounded by a couple of idiots. And they are supposed to be protecting me." Kazdin quietly ranted.

"I heard that." Veronica said, edgy.

"That sounds oh so sensitive." Boone added.

"How is it you guys can agree to torment me, but cant agree when it comes to working as a team?" Kazdin wondered aloud, wanting to pound something to dust in this moment.

"This sucks, where's the food?" Boone wondered.

"Ugh, we just ate, Boone." Kazdin said, her exasperation rising by the second.

"Go on Miss Willow." Veronica said, forming two fingers on her right hand and rolling them to indicate her lack of patience with interruptions.

"Finally! Thank you Miss Santangelo." Kaz said gratefully.

"Now, I hope to garner a good level of trust for both of you, and hopefully we can all learn something about each other.

Now, were gonna play the compliment game. This is where we tell something we like about each other. Ill go first. Boone, I like how talented you are with a sniper rifle! Veronica, you are BEAUTIFUL and I love how you can construct things without a work bench. Now, Boone, your turn."

Boone sighed. He may as well get this over with. Kazdin was easy. He definitely respected her beauty or was her care free and derpy personality more his thing? Or maybe her take charge attitude? Maybe this would be harder than her thought.

"Can we say more than one?" Boone asked. Kaz nodded.

"Of course you may, Boone."

"Alright. Kaz, I like your sweet and sometimes clueless attitude, your sense of humor and leadership capabilities. And youre not half bad to look at either." Boone said. Kaz beamed, he was getting it.

"Now, how about our friend Veronica?" Kaz mentioned. He thought a few more moments.

"I guess she isn't so bad. I…guess I like… how you punch things?" Boone formed it more as a question. Veronica sighed, disappointed and rolled her eyes.

"Wow, what a ringing endorsement, Boone." Veronica said, her feelings genuinely hurt.

"Now Boone, that wasn't good enough. Now apologize and do it again. For real this time." Kaz corrected gently.

Boone sighed and looked to the ground before mumbling something unintelligible. Kaz had had enough and pounced on Boone, taking his left ear in a death grip and forcing him onto the ground.

"Now…that…wasn't…very…nice!" Kaz grunted in time with their struggling.

"Fine! Sorry Veronica!" Boone said, finally having lost a valiant wrestling match with Kazdin.

"Umm, its okay." Veronica said, partly in awe of Kazdin's tussling skills.

"Now Boone, try again please." Kazdin said sweetly. Boone scowled, but recovered.

"Veronica, I like your unique style of combat. And you are a very nice person."

Veronica smiled, pleased.

"Not so fast Veronica, your turn." Kaz stated firmly. She nodded.

"I'll start with Boone. Despite your attitude toward me and your total silence, I respect your military background and you seem like you want to protect Kazdin. It takes a hell of a man and a hell of a character to endure what you have in your life. I'm actually kind of honored to be serving with you." Veronica gushed truthfully.

"No you see, that's what I wanna see!" Kazdin cheered as she touched their shoulders.

A few hours later, the sun was beginning to climb high in the sky and the scene was touching as Boone and Veronica held each other sobbing and crying, while Kazdin touched both people's shoulders, speaking softly to them.

"You are both in a cool river, where nobody is mean to you or calls you names. Like Snipey. Or the Punching-Jerk. There are sheep nearby. The kind that aren't out to kill you! You are safe. Breathe in through the nose….and out through the mouth. Again. In through the nose….and out through the mouth. Now, knock, knock…"

"Who's there?" Boone managed through his sobbing.

"Inner peace and tranquility." Kazdin answered.

"Boone, I never knew you had to go through all of that pain and turmoil! I can't imagine what it must've been like to shoot my own wife and kid! Or to be forced to watch your own army kill children and elderly during a confusing shoot out! I'm so sorry I said those things!" Veronica cried, her voice half muffled in the crook of Boone's neck.

"And Veronica, I'm sorry I didn't trust you! I mean losing your girlfriend and your grandfather figure! To be disillusioned with the people who you called your family! I never knew! I'm so sorry I said what I did." Boone reciprocated.

It had taken the better part of three hours, but during the "reveal your secrets" phase, Boone and Veronica truly understood each other, and it showed.

"Great job guys, now doesn't that feel better? Mr. Chompers approves!" Kazdin exclaimed.

"Yea, I guess so." Boone said, but he was unable to keep the grin off his face. Veronica was no exception. She reached out and hugged Boone again, this time on her own accord.

"Come on grouch, this road trip won't be very fun if were both expecting to be shot in the back. Friends?" Veronica inquired mid-embrace. She felt Boone nod on her shoulder.

"Okay, friends." Boone agreed.

"Okay guys. That's wonderful, but let's eat now. I don't know about you but I'm starving." Kazdin said with a wide grin.

"Really? I thought you'd be full by now." Veronica winked, leaving a stunned Kazdin standing beside an embarrassed Boone, the woman's face dropped in a permanent O.

"Yeah! I knew we would make it here before noon!" Kaz celebrated her correct assumption based on her poor knowledge of the wasteland.

"Careful though, you see that NCR officer over there? He looks a little frazzled." Boone said softly in an effort to calm his friend.

"Well, why don't we just go see what's up?" Kazdin suggested, looking to Boone.

Boone could see no reason not to try to be helpful.

"Alright, but let's keep our new friend's identity a secret. I may have accepted her, but most of the NCR will see her as an enemy." Boone whispered.

"Boone, I am truly proud of you." Kaz said, surprised at his show of compassion for Veronica. Boone shrugged.

"What can I say? She's grown on me over the past few hours." Boone said simply. And that made sense to him, and Kaz knew just what he meant. That was his way of saying he accepted her because he genuinely liked her.

"Alright guys, this NCR dude ain't gonna talk to himself." Kazdin interrupted a meaningful staring contest between the other two.

"Why not, you do." Boone said, his first attempt at humor in a while.

"No, I talked to Mr. Chompers. That's totally normal." Kazdin defended herself. "Mr. Chompers, totally normal. Talking to yourself, not normal. It makes perfect sense."

"Horsesasssayswhat." Boone muttered, an eye roll going unnoticed behind his glasses. He had started doing that entirely too often.

"What?" Kaz asked, confused.

"You were supposed to say nothing, Kaz." Veronica said through a giggle.

"…Nothing?" Kaz tried, more confused than ever. Veronica sighed.

"Boone said 'horse's ass says what'." Veronica explained, speaking slowly as if to a child.

Kaz said nothing, staring back at Veronica with no idea as to what she was implying.

"…You said 'what'." Veronica tried, making a circular motion with her hand. She was met with another blank stare.

"Ugh, you admitted to being a horse's ass. That's the joke, hon." Veronica explained, wondering to herself what planet Kaz was visiting at the moment.

"I get…the joke," Kazdin said, annoyed, "I'm waiting for you to explain what a horse is."

Veronica face palmed.

"Large quadruped mammals that were used by pre war people to get from place to place, mostly in rural areas." Boone explained quickly.

Another blank stare from Kazdin.

Boone and Veronica waited for Kazdin to ask her obvious question.

And waited.

And waited some more.

"Umm, what is a quadruped?" Kazdin asked, lost.

Both Boone and Veronica sighed.

"It means four-legged." Boone said, exasperated.

"Oh, gotcha. That was rather easy." Kazdin said exuberantly.

Both Boone and Veronica face palmed.

"So, NCR guy, what are we doing for that?" Veronica said, changing the subject.

"Oh yes, here's my super awesome grand-master plan. We find some bushes and cut them. Then we dress up in our new bush clothes and sneak totally undetected right behind that guy. He'll never see us coming!" Kazdin declared, completely confident in her plan.

"That seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass." Boone said dryly.

"Ssh." Kazdin chided, "This is a great plan. If I wanted your comeback, I would purge."

"There are no words. My words have failed me." Veronica said. Boone was just silent.

"Lets just ask him if we can help. I'm sure it will work." Boone suggested, hoping the courier wouldn't make him do a bunch of stupid shit that was completely unnecessary.

"Fine. Take all the fun out of it. I liked it better when you were uncomfortable." Kaz whined. But she shrugged and the trio came out of hiding.

Boone walked up to the officer and offered up a sharp salute, which the higher ranking officer returned.

"What is your business here in Boulder City?" the officer asked, shaking Boone's hand. Boone nodded to his companions who came closer.

"We're an NCR patrol, we noticed you looked like you needed some help, sir." Boone stated crisply out of habit. The higher ranker scratched his stubbled chin and nodded after a moment of thinking.

"We are in a tight spot. We've got some Khans in there who have two of our soldiers held hostage. We're at a stand off right now, but maybe you three could go in and negotiate their release." The officer replied to the patiently waiting group.

"I'm pretty sure we could do that." Kazdin replied with a nod of her head.

"You don't look like NCR. Who are you?" The officer wondered aloud to Kazdin.

"I am not. I'm a courier. Those Khans have something I need." Kazdin stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, then. That means that this one with you is not NCR either. You have some explaining to do, soldier." the officer said gruffly toward Boone. He opened his mouth to reply to his superior, but Kaz cut him off before he could get the first word in.

"She's with me and you may consider her anonymous. If that's a problem for you then I guess you'll have to wait for your privates' rescue. Or you can let us in and let us do the job we agreed to do." Kazdin said, crossing her arms, a flash or red coming to her cheeks but not from embarrassment.

"Wanna run that by me again with the word Major within somewhere?" the officer said coldly. Kazdin stood her ground and with a simple shake of her head and a narrowing of her eyes he had his resolute answer to his intimidating threat. Intimidating to anybody else but Courier Six.

"Either let us in and accept our help to a nearly impossible situation or blow me…sir." Kazdin challenged back.

"If you were on my squad you'd be demerited down to dirt eater." the Major spat. Kaz just glared at him.

"Good thing I'm not on your shit team or I'd be in the privates' situation." Kaz said coldly. She saw the Major turn red.

"One more word and you will be eating my shoe." The Major went for his rifle, but Kazdin was quicker, pulling her pistol and aiming before the officer made it halfway to his weapon.

"Try it and you'll be eating a bullet." Kazdin replied coldly, her voice thick with venom.

"These are my friends, and I will kill you to protect them. Understand that right now. Your army is large, but you are just one man. Don't fuck with Kazdin Willow. It's a name you'll become very familiar with." Kaz was steel personified and ice-become-flesh.

The Major shook his head but said nothing.

"The Khans are in the city in the furthest building to the east. If you can try to release the prisoners you'll have my respect." the Major said, his hand returning to his side.

"I am holstering my sidearm. I trust you won't fire on me with a crack shot and a world class puncher with me, so we are going in to complete this task for you. I have it on your word that you won't try to kill us or them and you have a deal." Kazdin negotiated.

"Deal, but if we hear any shooting, we are going to go in firing ourselves." the Major said.

"Sounds good to me, sir." Kazdin stated, offering a crisp salute of her own. She turned to her companions.

"Alright guys, we go in here with intent to negotiate only, but keep a hand on your weapons in case these guys get itchy trigger finger syndrome. Boone stay pretty far out to cover me and Veronica as we go in, just in case." Kazdin ordered. Boone was impressed with her knowledge of the battlefield. He was sure this woman was military sometime in her life.

Veronica was impressed with Kazdin's steely resolve and her willingness to protect to the death a woman she had barely even met earlier that day. She was iron willed and fiercely loyal to her friends and it really showed. Veronica made her way to her new friend's side as they walked into the crumbling town of Boulder City.

"Kazdin, thank you. You were able to protect me and keep me anonymous. Thank you so much." Veronica gushed.

Kaz grinned back at her as she stopped and nodded to Boone to stay where he was near a crumbled brick wall to cover them. She looked back at Veronica.

"My pleasure. I am glad to help you. I'd do the same for Boone. I just expect you both to do the same for me." Kazdin explained, a halfway grin on her pretty lips.

"Of course." Veronica agreed. Boone nodded in affirmative, still scoping the Khans in the distance.

"And Boone, you and me are going to have a talk about the NCR later." she spat. Boone didn't like her tone of voice. Apparently the Major had given off a bad first impression.

"Anyway, cover us Boone. Veronica, we go in with our weapons above our heads, safeties off, again, just in case. Lets go." Kazdin said. Veronica nodded and mimicked the courier's new posture with both hands poised above her head. Kazdin held her pistol in the air as they approached the Khan guards in front of the building.

"What do you want?" a female Khan barked from her position at the rear of a burned out car. Her submachine gun was pointed at Kazdin's head, and she assumed there were more guns pointed at the scribe's head.

"We are here to negotiate the release of the prisoners and I have personal business with your leader." Kazdin called out.

"What kind of business?" the Khan grunt called out.

"That's none of your business. Let us in. Things may get messy if you attempt to shoot us. We have a sniper trained on you. Not to mention about thirty soldiers just waiting for a gunshot." Kaz called.

The Khans were silent as they deliberated.

"Alright, talk to Jessup. But keep those weapons where we can see them." the female Khan announced.

"Deal." Kaz called out. To Veronica she said quietly, "Alright keep them up, we'll be alright."

Veronica nodded. By Kazdin's composure, she pretty much knew they would get out alive.

Kaz and Veronica walked through the crowd of Khans who kept their weapons pointed away from the duo, although the deadly metal stayed within their grasp, ready at a moment's notice.

Kazdin opened the wooden door and made a show of holstering her weapon. Veronica entered first followed by Kazdin who shut the door behind her.

"Holy shit…You're supposed to be dead. You're that courier Benny greased back in Goodsprings." Jessup gasped upon laying his eyes on Kazdin.

"Seems like Benny needs to work on his marksmanship." Kaz remarked, pointing to the twin scars at her temple. Her eyes held no humor to accompany her mirth reply.

"Hell, I'd say. He ain't here by the way. The little shit split when it came time to pay us." Jessup explained, his voice dripping with nerves. Kaz narrowed her eyes.

"Well, maybe you should pick your friends more wisely." Kazdin nearly shouted. It just came out of her mouth, her displeasure rushing from her mind to form into words of disgust.

"I ain't got the luxury of seeing things as black and white, lady. Look if it'll help you, Benny made off for New Vegas. Here, this is his lighter." Jessup said, handing a golden lighter to her. She accepted it into her small hands and she brought it to her face for closer inspection. It was engraved and decorated and looked very expensive.

"Well, that's better than nothing. Thank you." Kazdin replied. Jessup didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Uh, well, you're welcome." The Khan leader stammered, surprised that the courier would even muster a gesture of appreciation.

"Now, about these hostages. You have to release them." Kazdin pointed out.

"Bullshit, if we release them they'll just storm on us and kill every last one of us." Jessup said, his eyes twitching nervously as he anticipated the cost of such an action.

"No, that will only happen if you kill the prisoners. The soldiers out there are only under orders to attack if the hostages are harmed." Kazdin stated, leveling her eyes at Jessup.

"If you let them go, I will see to it that your clan is released. I'll speak to the Major myself and let him know that the deal has been made and he needs to escort you out and let you be on your way. It's the best deal you'll be able to make, trust me." Kazdin said. She was in no hurry, content to speak with Jessup and convince him to let the captives go.

"Well, Maybe you and me can work out a little deal." Jessup said, cocking an eyebrow. His voice was thick with attraction and sexual expectancy.

Kazdin let her eyes take on a sexual tinge. She drew closer.

"Kaz…" Veronica sighed.

Jessup placed his hand on her shoulder and drew in for a kiss, only to be blocked. With a wink, in a sudden flurry of movement and unpredictable speed, Kazdin twisted Jessup's arm and placed him hard on the concrete floor, to his own bewilderment and the laughter of his friends.

"Kazdin ain't on the menu. Now are you gonna take that deal or are you going to hurt the prisoners and get blown to hell?" Kaz asked seriously. Veronica laughed at her friend's animalistic unpredictability. Kaz released him and returned to join Veronica, hands on her shapely hips

"Sure, I'll tell my Khans to release the hostages." Jessup answered.

A few minutes later, Kazdin and Veronica walked toward the outer gate with two terrified privates walking between them. When they reached the gate, they ran off toward a sandbag construct to bunker down to wait until the ordeal was over.

"Well, Major, I'd say that's a successful mission. Now I worked it out that the Khans be escorted out by your soldiers." Kazdin said, hands again on her hips and more specifically, closer to her gun. She did not trust the Major. To her mind he seemed shady.

"Well, that's a good wish courier, but I just can't do that. See I got orders from command that we are to take the Khans out, prisoners or no." the Major said. He seemed almost gleeful.

"Wait, that's not right. I secured the hostages' release based on trust. If you kill those Khans, then you are a slimy no good son of a bitch with no honor." Kazdin spit her venom. This news irritating her enough to piss her off.

"Well, that's a nice idea, but I'm giving the order." The Major said smugly, reaching for his radio to contact his troops in the dishonorable act of murdering the Khans she had just promised to protect. She tasted bile.

"No!" Kaz shouted, reaching for her weapon, but Boone grabbed hold of her and pinning her arms against her sides.

"Soldiers. Kill the Khans inside." The Major replied with no hint of emotion.

"No! You gutless, dishonorable, fucking asshole!" Kazdin cried out, pure venom and anger in her shrill voice.

Kazdin heard the shots being fired and stomped as hard as she could upon Boone's foot, causing him to cry out and release the courier, who went for her pistol, leveled it on the Major's head and pulled the trigger.

He fell to the asphalt below, dead before he heard the shot that was fired. She then pulled the trigger on the two privates beside her.

"Come with me or get the fuck out of here Boone!" Kazdin yelled at the sniper, who stood with his mouth wide open.

Kaz left through the wooden door, leaving a stunned Boone and Veronica behind.

Veronica looked to Boone for a moment before taking the former Major's rifle and moving through the wooden door to help her friend.

Inside Boulder City the place was haywire. Kazdin was crouched near a brick wall spraying bullets at anybody with sand colored armor. Veronica chanced a quick look at her friend who was red faced and crying, her salty tears streaming even as she rained death five rounds at a time.

Veronica pulled Kaz back behind the brick wall as she heard her friend's pistol click in rapid succession. Veronica took Kazdin's place and fired the 5.56 mm semi-automatic rifle at the rest of the soldiers remaining. She noticed that the Khans were not firing in their direction. The NCR soldiers were being taken from both sides and their numbers were thinning rapidly.

"Die you fucking assholes!" Kazdin screamed in fury as she fired a fresh clip, taking down four of the soldiers with her five shots.

As Kaz was reloading for the second time, Veronica once again took her place and took down the five remaining soldiers, assisted by their new great Khan allies.

The final soldier threw his rifle down away from his person and hit his knees, his hands above his head.

"Don't move, traitor!" the female Khan shouted, weapons trained.

Veronica stared at her friend, who had morphed into somebody else. Her eyes were bloodshot and her mouth formed into a tight frown, her hair wild and her body twitching.

"Stay here Veronica. Don't move!" She ordered. And she nodded silently.

Kazdin approached the quaking soldier on the ground her weapon trained on him. He shouted for mercy.

"Mercy? Did you show these Khans mercy? They nearly fucking buried me and I showed them mercy! Why are you any different? Why should I show you mercy?" Kazdin raged.

"I…I…I was…Just…following orders." the soldier cried.

"Those orders came from a gutless traitor. I shot him in the face!" Kazdin crowed, her voice deadlier than any snake. This news made the soldier quake and cry harder.

"Prepare to die." Kazdin whispered menacingly. But before she could pull the trigger, Veronica took her arm and pulled down sharply.

"Kazdin…" Veronica whispered, tears in her own eyes.

Kaz turned her head sharply to face Veronica.

"He's just a kid. No older than his late teens." Veronica plead his case for him, very softly, very gently.

Kazdin hesitated. Her mouth dropped and her weapon hand dropped to her side. For a long moment she couldn't speak.

"Go on. Get the hell out of here." Kazdin said, her voice a hoarse whisper. She could feel her tender vocal chords, her throat uncomfortably dry.

The kid on the ground needed no further encouragement and swiftly scrambled out the wooden door.

She looked up at the group of Khans. Jessup approached her.

"We would have been dead without your help. What happened?" Jessup asked, amazed at this good fortune.

"That asshole of a major betrayed both of us." Kaz replied.

"You did great. I never saw anybody go crazy like that, except for one. A man I knew a long time ago." said the female Khan, her black hair done up in dual Mohawks. Her accent was hard for Kazdin to place. British? That didn't seem right. It was different somehow.

"What's your name?" the woman asked in her strange accent.

"Kaz." The courier replied softly, looking up at the other woman with red eyes.

"Nice to meet you Kaz. My name is Melissa. Melissa Kimbly. But…don't ever call me by my first name please." the woman stated, a grin on her face. Kazdin nodded.

As Kazdin escorted the Khan group out of Boulder City, Kazdin glared at Boone with real heat.

"You and me are gonna talk. But I do not have the patience right now. Come on if you're still with me. If you're not, leave me the fuck alone." Kazdin said evenly. The hatred had left her voice, but she was still pissed off at the NCR.

Looking toward Veronica she sniffed and opened her mouth.

"Are you still with me? That was pretty dark." Kaz asked her friend, sounding older for the moment.

"Of course. I'll be here to the end." Veronica whispered. This caused Kaz to smile for the first time since the Major ordered the double cross. She nodded her head and touched Veronica's hand.

Without waiting to see if Boone followed her, Kaz walked off in a huff. Veronica looked forlornly at Boone who looked back with a melancholy look in his eyes. She noticed for the first time his glasses were off and he had tears in his eyes.

Veronica patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Come on, Boone. She'll be halfway to Vegas before we catch up if we wait any longer." Veronica said gently. Boone could only nod before he rose to his feet and followed the courier, like he always had.

Hours would pass before Kazdin was herself again.

"Mr. Chompers, kill the bad guy!" Kazdin cried, throwing the stuffed Dinosaur at the mob of fiend raider members. While he did manage to hit one of the raiders in the heart, the impact did far less damage than his master anticipated it would.

"Well that didn't work. Ideas?" Kazdin muttered to her two friends, huddled beside the same rock she was.

Boone had been moving out of cover for 30 minutes taking potshots at the raiders. Even though the leader came on by waving a nine iron and Veronica punched his head off with her power fist, the raiders were still pinning Kazdin's squad down.

Kaz had used her pistol on a group of four raiders who were close to them, but was now resigned to using her hunting rifle along with Boone to snipe some of the other raiders, but there were still eight waiting to die, but they made it harder by actually firing at Kazdin and Company's general position.

"Kaz, I'm afraid we're pinned down and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm damn near out of ammo. I've got a clip and a half left. After this is dry, you're gonna have to take over sniping duty. I've got a submachine gun, but at this distance, it won't be as effective." Boone declared.

"Fuck-berries!" Kaz cried, rising to snipe another raider, her shot actually hitting the nearest raider between the eyes.

"Oh my God! My first real head shot! That was awesome! If only Mr. Chompers could see!" Kazdin yelled, celebrating her first head shot sniper kill. But she was silenced in mid celebration by a large explosion.

Kazdin dared to peek out from cover, noticing that the fiends were now firing in the other direction. Off in the distance, a group of ten men wearing black with slicked back hair were firing on the fiends' position. It was their chance.

In mid-distraction Boone and Kazdin sniped the remaining fiends while Veronica covered with a newly looted 10 mm SMG. Between the three of them they killed the remaining fiends and moved from cover with their weapons held above their heads.

"Well now, boys, what do we have here?" the inquiry was delivered in a suave debonair voice.

"Who the fuck was Elvis?" Kazdin inquired to the man who had introduced himself as Pacer.

"Whoa, darlin'. He was the King. Show some respect." Pacer said in his wacky accent.

"A King? Like a king with a crown who rules over, like, Scotland or something?" Kazdin asked, cocking an eyebrow, which was rapidly becoming her trademark when confused.

"No, he was the King of Rock and Roll. He was a singer and was a very cool, down to earth kinda guy. We're the Kings, the leaders of Freeside. We take after this Elvis character out of respect." Pacer sighed. He wasn't used to explaining himself so thoroughly.

"Ah, I get it now. Well that's cool, but I got my own agenda. I'm gonna go ahead and part ways, but I promise you once we get to Freeside, after I see about my personal business I'll drop in and see the King. Deal?" Kaz said, stopping her group.

"Makes no difference to me, darlin'. In fact why did you follow us this far?" Pacer asked, quirking an eyebrow to match Kazdin's expression from earlier.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." Kaz replied with a shrug. Pacer nodded.

"Well, take care. Stop by the HQ sometime." Pacer said, shaking the trio's hands one at a time.

"Will do, and thank you so much for your help." Kazdin said smiling. Pacer nodded before calling his boys to fall in line.

"Come on guys, let's hit the grub N gulp." Kaz said as the sun started to set in the rapidly fading light.

Dinner had been good, better than usual. And her thirst was slaked for the time being. But she still couldn't sleep. Her change in attitude at Boulder City haunted her. She was not regretful over it. That asshole officer deserved a bullet for his shameless display of traitorous ambition. But the sudden change when she was beyond pissed still scared her.

How would she face Boone tonight? She was still very angry with him. He still defended them. He had ignored her for a long time upon their leaving Boulder City and when she had questioned him, he had told her that he served the NCR. If she was their enemy then he had nothing to say to her.

That statement made her cringe in anger and walk back ahead of him, if only not to show him her tears.

Now several hours later, after a heated battle, he now at least communicated with her. But now here she sat, alone in the dark. The light of a nearby fire illuminating her back which was clad in her favorite blue dress as she stared off literally into space.

The stars were beautiful and allowed her to think freely. They didn't insult her. Didn't betray her. They were up there for guidance and for unabashed viewing, and they calmed her soul at her most fiery.

Meanwhile a few yards away, Veronica and Boone sat together on a bench.

"I don't know what to do. What to say." Veronica said after a sigh. She stared over at Kazdin, who stared shamelessly at the black starry sky.

"She said she wanted to be alone." Boone said softly, anger in his voice.

"And you know why! You totally snubbed her earlier! You'd rather stick with NCR than comfort your friend. Is she your girlfriend or what?" Veronica asked, her voice rising, but not enough for the courier to hear her as far away as she was.

"No. She isn't. I used to be attracted to her, but I don't know. She went toe to toe with the army that I am a part of." Boone answered.

"Used to be a part of. And if they are more important than she is, then I don't even know why you're here. I know for a fact that she likes you. She's mad at you right now, but so what? That doesn't mean she isn't still into you." Veronica reasoned through her growing irritancy.

"She doesn't like me. I sure wouldn't like me." Boone admitted finally.

"Then go to her. It's not too late to change. I know I tease you for what I saw in the tent the other day when we first met. But that wasn't just some random sexual encounter. She wanted you. If you're lucky, she still does." Veronica's tone had gotten softer, more counseling.

"I don't know. She wants to be alone. The last person she wants to see is me." Boone hesitated, tossing it around in his head.

"Boone, let her decide that. The worst she could do is tell you to go away." Veronica urged.

"I am still mad…" Boone started, only to be interrupted by Veronica.

"Boone, if you don't go, I'm going to punch you in the arm. Best case scenario it'll knock your arm out of socket. Get me?" Veronica said with a growl of frustration. Boone weighed his options and begrudgingly moved from his seat, deciding that being punched by Veronica would be more painful than talking out his problems with Kazdin.

_This was the same woman who identified with my mercy killing. The same woman who flirted with me so easily. The same woman who blushes every time I speak her name. one and the same. _Boone thought as he made his way to Kazdin, step by step.

All too soon he was right behind her, and suddenly he didn't know what to say. He stood still for a moment, willing words to come to his lips.

"Boone." Kazdin stated coolly, not looking at him. Her perception was good, he could tell.

"Kaz, I…" Boone started, only to be waved off.

"Boone, sit with me." Kazdin ordered. He slowly took a seat on Kazdin's bench. She said nothing for a long while, and Boone was intent on waiting her out until she said what she wanted to say.

"Boone, are you stupid?" Kaz said finally, still staring at the heavens. The question took him aback. He wasn't angry, just unsure.

"What do you mean?" Boone asked, looking at her. She took her blue eyes away from the stars and looked at Boone a moment. It was obvious that she had been crying, her black mascara which she liked to be semi-caked on was running, causing a gothic smear of makeup down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy. Her nose had a tinge of red on the tip.

"Where do you get off completely ignoring me when I've done nothing but want, no that was the wrong word…**need **to get closer to you?" Kazdin asked, her eyes returning skyward.

"Kazdin, you killed an entire platoon of NCR soldiers and a Major. I understand that the Major double crossed all of us and that pissed me off too, but all the blood you spilled…was it all necessary?" Boone asked.

"That's another thing. So far the NCR have threatened to shoot me, tried to bully information out of me, and double crossed me and my friends after giving me their word that the Khans would go free. You focus on me, but the wanton killing I saw this afternoon was all on their hands. I went berserk because I had to. I had to go in and protect them. They lived up to their end of the bargain. It was the NCR who randomly started killing people." Kazdin explained, her voice rising, but Boone understood and didn't get angry with her. She had a strong case. She had taken her eyes away from the sky once again and drew them onto Boone, fresh tears streaking her face.

"I don't know. Its just my past with them…they're my brothers." Boone stated. It was the best answer he could give.

"And so you insult me? Tell me that I'm not worth talking to because I am enemies with NCR? You didn't make me mad today, Boone." Kazdin replied, words still tinged with malice. Or pain.

"I didn't? It seemed that way." Boone said finally.

"No. You hurt me, Boone. You hurt my feelings. You hurt my heart. I liked you and after our first difference in opinion, you snubbed me. That really fucking hurt." Kazdin cried openly now, her words slurred with her pain. She took her eyes from the heavens completely and set them on Boone.

Boone didn't know what to say. He opted to say nothing and let his heart do the talking for him. He moved quickly before Kaz could cringe away and wrapped his arms around her shuddering form.

Kaz tried to move away, but only at first. She tried a few times half heartedly and then just settled into Boone's strong arms, her crying face buried in his chest as she sobbed steadily. She wasn't crying very hard, but she let her emotions flood out now that he finally understood.

"Kaz, I don't hate you. I am sorry for what I said to you earlier. I didn't think it would hurt you so badly. I have a lot to think about in the future, my views on the NCR have been shaken." Boone said softly as Kazdin cried into his shirt.

"I don't hate you either." she said weakly.

"But I know I'm not supporting the NCR. They are doing the wrong things. I want to be with you Boone."

"I'll think about the NCR. If they have strayed too far and there is actual proof, I'll talk to you about it. As of right now, I feel the need to mend our…whatever we have…relationship I guess."

"I would say relationship, yes." Kaz agreed, offering a weak smile. She wiped her face and sniffed.

"I must look absolutely…" Kaz started before Boone put a finger to her lips.

"Beautiful." he finished for her.

"Oh no, I've got eye shadow everywhere, even on your white shirt! I'm sorry about that Boone. I'll buy you a new one. But you don't have to say I'm pretty if you don't really…" Kaz stammered quickly, speaking really without knowing, before Boone's full warm lips touched hers for the first time. She immediately shut up and basked in the feeling of his warm lips pressed against hers. She noted how his tongue wasn't pushing for entrance. This was a comforting kiss, not a lusty one. She felt a tingle engulf her body and she felt at peace again.

Boone released too early in her mind and pulled back.

"You are beautiful. And no matter what I said before, I'll be with you always." Boone spoke softly.

After an hour had passed, Veronica made her way over to the softly conversing duo. Kaz had cleaned herself up and had started laughing again, so she felt it was a good time to inject herself into their conversation.

"Whatcha talking about?" Veronica interjected softly, startling Kaz and Boone. They welcomed her to sit with them.

"Did you see all of that, Ronnie?" Kaz asked, blushing.

"Ronnie?" Veronica laughed.

"I like it as a nickname for you. What do you think?" Kaz asked, delighted at her choice.

"Its odd, but then again so is Kazdin Willow. I love it." Veronica beamed.

"Great. Anyway we were just talking about all the cars littered about. I was wondering if anyone's ever tried to put one back together." Kazdin recapped.

"I told her I didn't think it was possible. Nobody makes the parts anymore." Boone shrugged, actually grinning, which was rare.

"I actually heard stories of a vault dweller near and around California who rebuilt a car back a long time ago, but I haven't heard of anyone rebuilding one successfully since then." Veronica offered.

"Well it's closer than either of us got to an affirmative answer." Kaz said, leaning back into Boone's chest.

"So I guess it's safe to say you guys are a couple now?" Veronica asked, interested. She leaned forward on her elbows with a wondering look in her eyes.

Boone and Kaz looked at each other, neither knowing what to say right off the bat. Kaz spoke up.

"Not yet, but we made major strides tonight." Kaz smiled. Boone nodded with a grin.

"But as for tonight…" Kazdin said, a sudden naughty look in her eye. She grinned and touched the other woman's shoulder.

"Be right back guys." Kazdin said before walking toward the owner of the food stand and starting a conversation with him, followed by an exchange of caps.

"What do you…?" Veronica wondered aloud, looking to Boone for answers, who only shrugged, curious himself.

Kaz returned after the longest three minutes Boone and Veronica had felt in a long time.

She took Veronica and Boone's hands and pulled them up slowly. That passion in her eye not moving, but making a lump form in both throats.

"We're three sleeping inside." Kaz whispered with a wink. She pulled her two friends into the adjacent building and locked the door behind them. She turned back to her friends who looked at her with curiosity, unable to form words.

Kaz approached her friends and stood right in front of them. She slowly took Veronica's hand and pulled the stunned woman closer to her. Kaz had a sexy smile on her face as Veronica allowed herself to be brought near.

Veronica gasped and her heart skipped a beat when Kazdin gently placed her lips upon the other woman's lips. Veronica's eyes grew wide as she realized that she was kissing the beautiful courier, returning her kiss with a timid fervor before Kazdin broke the embrace and moved toward Boone and started to kiss him lovingly as well. She had a fire in her eyes as she embraced Boone, leaving Veronica to recover from the breathtaking kiss she had experienced.

She placed one hand on Veronica's brown scribe robe and one upon Boone's mascara stained tank top. She allowed her hands to travel over the stunned people's bodies, before getting frustrated and taking first Veronica's hands and placing them on her body, followed by Boone's hands.

"It's okay, you can touch me." Kazdin whispered, prompting both male and female to explore Kazdin's body while she in turn explored theirs.

Kazdin switched her tongue filled kisses between Boone and Veronica's lips every few minutes, while they just stood in the middle of the living room, caressing and kissing and embracing.

Before too long Kazdin got too hot, her core wetting fiercely.

"Come on, guys, let's take this party upstairs." Kazdin suggested with a sex tinged voice.

Veronica giggled and Boone couldn't believe his own luck.

"Wow…" was all he said.

Kazdin took both people's hands and led them upstairs, their footsteps creaking the old dusty floorboards.

Once in the room the trio sat on the queen sized mattress and the fondling and exploring grew in intensity as three sets of lips clung to one another and three sets of hands grasped and groped.

Veronica made a move to kiss Boone and they lip locked while Kazdin decided to go for it all. She stripped her blue sundress off and lay it on the floor, prompting Veronica and Boone's eyes to glue themselves to her body.

"What? It was pretty hot watching you and Boone kiss." Kaz admitted with a giggle. With a short laugh of their own, Veronica and Boone turned to one another again and began making out before Veronica slowly stripped the tank top from Boone's torso. Inch by inch of hard warm skin was revealed to Veronica and Kazdin's gaze. A few scars dotted the sniper's skin, but he was for the most part clean and clear skinned.

Veronica separated for a moment to allow Kazdin to pull her robe up and over her head, revealing her short, spiky black hair and tank top-and-shorts underwear combo.

"No fair, half of Boone's body is still covered." Veronica said with a mock frown.

"That can be changed." Kazdin said softly before unbuttoning and taking Boone's pants down while he and Veronica resumed making out.

After a few minutes, Kaz tapped Veronica's shoulder, causing the scribe to turn and lock lips with her, leaving Boone for the moment to relax and massage his clothed member.

The two ladies touched everywhere, formerly hidden skin was massaged and touched in warm sexual need.

Before long the ladies had stripped each other of bra and panties, relieving aching nipples and wet vaginas to the warm air of the building in which they now lay.

They both looked to Boone expectantly and giggled as he got the hint and stripped his boxers, allowing his semi erect cock into the air. Kazdin already knew, but Veronica gasped at the size of it. It was more than a mouthful and her mouth watered.

Veronica looked at Kazdin with a naughty expression. Kazdin nodded and pushed Boone back further while she and the scribe jostled for position between his spread legs. Then proceeded the greatest blowjob in Boone's entire life.

Veronica and Kaz each licked up and down one side of Boone's shaft and swirled around his head a few times, both pleasuring Boone and tasting one another's kiss when their tongues touched and passed each other. First Kaz and then Veronica would suck a few inches into their mouths as they took turns licking and sucking on their new toy.

Kazdin reached underneath to tenderly fondle Boone's balls, eliciting gasp after gasp of pleasure from the big man.

Boone felt like he was the only one receiving pleasure and therefore decided to change position. He lay flat on his back while Kazdin straddled his waist. She leaned forward to kiss his lips before Veronica straddled her shaved sex over his hungry mouth.

Kaz's vagina was revealed to have a landing strip style patch of black hair above her glistening wet labia. Her clitoris stood proudly, the hood naturally allowing the sensitive nub to stand freely, begging for attention.

Veronica settled on her knees, straddling Boone's face while he reached around and held onto her round hips before beginning his work on her wetness with his warm pointed tongue.

At the same time Kazdin pushed herself down onto Boone's manhood, slowly adjusting to his girth. The slow feeling of wet and heat on his dick made Boone sigh, the air escaping his lips hitting Veronica's clitoris and making the woman shudder as she rode his mouth.

Boone was in a world of bliss as he pleasured and was pleasured. He did his best to keep up with Veronica's rotating hips but he knew he was doing very well based on the moans and groans of his friend.

It wasn't too much longer when Kazdin pulled herself off of Boone and switched positions. This time Boone crawled onto his hands and knees while Veronica bent over before him. He slowly pushed himself into her, making sure to move slowly to make her welcoming tightness more comfortable. She lowered her head as Kazdin spread herself before her.

Veronica slowly licked while Boone thrusted, dividing her attention the way only a woman knows how to within the area between her thighs, her labia, her clitoris and her hole, making sure to pleasure every part of her best friend's sex.

And enjoying it she was. Kaz moaned loudly as Veronica did her best to pleasure her friend. Meanwhile, Veronica was more than used to Boone's size. Boone gripped her luscious round hips in both hands as he sped his strokes up faster and harder until the sound of skin slapping skin could be heard above both women's moans of pleasure.

As the party wound down to a close, it had the women lying one on top of the other, licking each other while Boone moved passionately inside the courier, the heat causing him to approach his own climax. It was a tricky position, as Veronica had only a minute sliver for her tongue to caress. It was Kazdin's clitoris getting all of her attention while Kazdin was able to pleasure every part of the scribe's vagina.

Kazdin was the first to climax. Her body shuddered and shook while she poured her honey into the waiting mouth of her female partner.

Veronica was next as her body clenched, her mons nearly crushing Kazdin's tongue which was comically stuck inside her vagina. All the while Kaz fingered Veronica's clit while the scribe rode out the waves of her pleasure without squirting a drop of lady cum into her partner's mouth. Her vagina got very wet, but she did not ejaculate the way Kazdin had.

Kazdin giggled and apologized.

"Don't worry, that felt amazing. I came hard, I just don't ejaculate. So don't worry." Veronica stated breathlessly.

Just then Kazdin felt Boone pull out. She looked at Veronica who made a gross face and shook her head no. Kaz shrugged and turned toward Boone, taking him deep into her mouth. She sucked him for a few moments before she felt the pleasurable pressure of her mouth being filled by his semen.

Kaz gulped quickly but was nearly too slow to swallow it all. By the time he was done, Kazdin was gulping for air, but she laughed and moved over to lay beside Veronica and Boone.

Boone covered the three of them with the thick comforter at the foot of their bed. The three allies lay together in the bed, various sexual fluids drying where they had landed and three exhausted people lay side by side.

"Now that was a party." Kazdin sighed.

"That was a great time." Veronica agreed.

"No energy left." Boone mumbled as the two women giggled.

"She drained you I guess." Veronica chimed in.

"That would be correct." Boone answered.

After that, the conversation drifted as the three occupants of the bed drifted into deep dreamless sleeps.


	6. A Bitter Breakup

**CHAPTER SIX: A BITTER BREAKUP**

**A/N: Okay, a recent reader brought something to my attention that I need to touch upon. The annoying reality that is Kaz Willow and the out of character companions. I have a few things to say on both the yay and nay sides of it. **

**First, Boone **_**was**_** out of character. I was focusing more on the comedy aspect of this story and got out of touch majorly with his character. Thank you, Bridgedweller for bringing this to my attention, because I would not have noticed. You could've been a little fucking NICER, of course, but the point still remains. More props to my good friend Ghoulmask for actually EXPLAINING where I was wrong in a respectful and encouraging way, and for you to just trash my story as not worth the "paper" its printed on is lazy and unhelpful. But you were right about Boone and I hope my rewriting of his character, especially in this chapter makes up for my ignorance of character at first.**

**Now, for my defenses of my writing. Kazdin Willow is MY original character and I know of at least one person who loves her, both in her ignorance and her bad-assery. I for one love her character and not just from a biased position, but because I wrote her to be different from every other courier I have ever read. How do I do that? Make her reluctant, emotional and to have a ditzy side. **

**Second, I will not rewrite Veronica because I feel that she is completely in character, maybe not so much in that she has enjoyable sex with Boone as she is a canonly gay character, but I am definitely not the first to play with a character's sexuality. Most of the time it is for a straight person to be gay (a la the freaking THOUSANDS of fics depicting Boone as gay) and I went in the opposite direction, and made her have a thing for Boone. **

**Finally, I will say this one final time and then I will pointedly ignore people claiming the story and Kaz are annoying and just stupid. This is a COMEDY, people. Ha ha, full of laughs. It is not supposed to be taken seriously, but is more of a good-time read. I will be turning Kaz more and more from her ditzy side as the story unfolds, but for now, she is stupidly funny. So do not take this story seriously. I cannot believe the two people who actually felt the need to write comments who's feedback consisted of "This sucks because she/the plot is stupid". Major thank yous to Ghoulmask who has had nothing but good things to write about this story since chapter one. I love your reviews! **

**A story rated M has an M rating for a reason. In the same right, a story that clearly is labeled HUMOR has that label for a reason. I will not respond to nor will I rewrite anything else in this story based on "stupidity" because this is a comedic writing. That is the last time I will say or justify it. **

**Now, for those of you who HAVEN'T insulted me or my story and who enjoy it, please enjoy this chapter. The only highlights are that Boone makes a major turn BACK into character in this one. Enjoy, everybody ****J**

The morning came too fast for a pleasantly aching Boone. His eyes creaked open and he was slowly but surely hit with an unpleasant feeling. The memories came washing back and he could hardly think. What was he doing?

Had it only been two months since his wife had died? And here he was fucking two women he barely even knew and allowing someone to attack the NCR army, both verbally and violently. He felt sick, but most of all he felt unsure. He felt he betrayed his old unit, a unit he still held respect for, by allowing Kazdin to kill an NCR-related company with no more opposition from him than a few words, and then he seemed to forgive her and Veronica so swiftly it made his head spin.

But hadn't the Major brought his death upon himself? The two privates that she had rescued did not deserved their fates, and he could constitute that action as a blind murder at best. But his maddening doubt was the fact that the NCR Major had turned on the people he was supposed to protect. The war between the army and the Great Kahns having come to senseless blood yet again. But on the flip side, the Major had never promised to let the Kahns leave, so that technically was not a betrayal. A miscarriage of honor? Sure. But that was simply a matter of opinion.

He hated the Bitter Springs massacre. It was enough to convince him to leave the army. It was a miscarriage of war and for him to deny that blatant fact would be to deny his own intelligence, and he would not be insulted in that way.

It rented space in his head and he couldn't make it compute. Why? Why did he forgive so easily? Because it seemed that she was righteous in her indignation and the fire of her wrath. The army had betrayed the Kahns based on an old blood feud, and that made him sick, but he decided that he could not abide the killing that went on that night. He would miss Veronica, but he was seeing the courier in a brand new light.

Boone undraped himself from the covers and tried to leave the bed to redress without waking his sleeping companions. It failed, as he noticed Kazdin stir softly. His lip grimaced and he thought bitterly about having to face her again.

"Up already?" Kaz mumbled sleepily.

"Yes." He said pointedly, actually making the pretty woman look at him in annoyance.

"The fuck did I do?" Kazdin demanded, insulted. Boone cringed at her tone and briefly considered backing down before splintering that decision. He had been soft for too long. Fraternizing around like a college student while it had only been a couple of months since his supposed beloved had died. It made him physically ill in this moment. He had been smiling more, joking more in her company in the few days he had known her, and that made him all the more bitter. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be, it just wasn't in his character.

"You know what, no more silence from me. I am still pissed off at what you did to my army. You may claim self defense, but what I saw was murder." Boone said, his voice and angry growl.

Kaz sat up now.

"I thought we had already resolved that." Kazdin said, louder than she had intended.

_This again? After last night? _She thought angrily.

"No, nothing was resolved. All that happened was I felt guilty with breaking your oh so fragile heart and so I relented. I relented without any real conflict resolution of the matter. You complain about your poor heart but you're hard as nails when you are _murdering _NCR soldiers!" Boone said, crossing his arms.

"What is all the fucking yelling about?" A female voice demanded as its owner sat up, covering her chest with the blanket. Veronica was awake.

"This is not your fight, Veronica. Stay out of it!" Boone snapped.

"Fuck no I will not, you are yelling at my friend about something that has already been explained. Your army was about to murder people and Kaz honored the deal that was made against the man and the army who broke it." Veronica said, her voice rising at the insult.

"Innocent? Those fucking assholes kidnapped truly innocent military privates. The lowest spot on the totem pole. They were fucking grunts who did nothing to the Kahns, and they were kidnapped. The kill order was followed and you know what? Death would have been what they deserved." Boone defended, his voice not losing its venom.

"Listen to yourself! You are defending an army that thinks it can bully its way into every nook and cranny of New Vegas…ANYTHING!" Kazdin yelled.

"What about the privates you murdered even after saving them?" Boone said simply, his voice a harsh whisper.

Kazdin couldn't speak. Her eyes grew wide as it came back to her. Her hand flew to her mouth and she stifled an outcry. Her eyes welled up but she could not speak.

_That shut her up. _Boone thought.

"You killed those kids in cold blood. They were weaponless…"

"We fucking get it, asshole! Get the fuck out of here while I do damage control, bastard!" Veronica shouted, causing Boone to jump, surprised at the fire within the normally soft-spoken girl. He recovered quickly.

"Defend her with one word, Veronica and our relationship is dead. I will consider you the enemy I consider her." Boone rasped, taking a step closer.

"Our relationship died when you spoke bitter words to this woman with intent to slice her spirit." She spoke poetically but with great conviction.

"I have done…something terrible. I will regret that action for the rest of my life." Kazdin spoke in a low voice, emotion coating her words.

"But you do not have the right to condemn me. Leave this room right now, get dressed and leave me the fuck alone." Her words had lost their fire, but not their anger.

"At least you realize what you did now." Boone said, crossing his arms.

"Boone…" It was Veronica's voice this time. He looked her way and she stood, letting the cover fall from her form. The womanly grace of her nudity was diminished, however, by the loud engaging of her power fist.

"I will be responsible for the cold blooded murder of another NCR soldier if you do not leave this room right…fucking…now." Veronica seethed, bringing her fists up in a combat stance, prepared to square off against an unarmed Craig Boone.

He picked his rucksack up from the floor and gave one last long stare at Kazdin, who returned his gaze with stone like bravery. He finally opened the door and left quietly.

She stayed silent, her lips pressed together until she heard the downstairs door slam.

And she could not hold back the tears as she moved from the bed and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

The crows' call was what awoke her.

_Still in the bathtub. _Kaz thought sadly.

The water was now cold, and she noticed the empty bottle that formerly held whiskey, along with the tears sitting unmolested on the porcelain, or were they water droplets?

Her thoughts were centered maddeningly on Boone. She had been loved and dumped before, she could imagine. But the mystery of why she could not turn callous to the disregard of a man, she could not ascertain.

She had pleasured him with her body. Her thoughts went angry on this tone. He didn't stand up and tell her she was a wicked heathen when they were sitting at the fire last night. He decided to do it now, that very morning after the passionate love-making the three friends, former friends, had shared.

_No. Not love making. Fucking. _Kazdin thought bitterly.

_He fucked me twice. Last night, and this morning. _

She had nearly been finished with Boone when he had painted a huge "Fuck Off" sign on his forehead after the incident with the NCR Major's treachery. If she had been nearly finished because of his silent treatment of her, then she was undoubtedly finished with him now.

The thoughts of the two privates she had saved only for her to shoot them in blind rage returned to haunt her thoughts and fresh tears were added to her salt-lined cheeks as she mourned their loss, which was all on her.

She could not feel reverence or concern for the Major or his murderous army. She had honored the deal she had made and had killed in war the turncoats who betrayed the honored deal. That was war, that was wasteland. But she had shot down two unarmed NCR privates. She had nearly killed a third.

A soft knock on the door was accompanied with Veronica's soothing voice.

"Kaz? Can I come in?" she called so softly, so compassionately that she nearly cried harder.

"Yes." she managed. The door slid open a second later and Veronica entered, again wearing her burlap robe. Kazdin was thankful for this.

"Are you okay?" Veronica asked softly, tracing her thin fingers through the 25 year old woman's pitch hair, wet from her sleep in the formerly nearly scalding water. She had felt earlier after Boone had left the house that she needed a bath, as scalding as she could stand it. She needed to feel clean again, to let the hot water wash her sins away along with the equally loatheful dirt of the Mojave, equal parts sin and dust disappearing down the drain.

The bath hadn't cleansed her. She had cried until she had no more tears of either guilt or loss and had passed out in the tub, after drinking the aforementioned bottle of whiskey.

What would she say to Veronica? She was waiting patiently, letting her have her time to formulate an answer.

Was she okay? On one hand, she would survive and she knew it. She would go on to find Benny and dispose of him, and face whatever her future held. But on the other hand, she was crushed by her guilty conscience and the sudden ripping away of a man she had felt she was getting close to.

"I…Don't know." Kazdin answered finally.

Veronica rose from her knees without another word and placed her kind hands on her arm and shoulder and helped the other woman stand, water rushing from her body as if she had offended even the water itself.

She shivered in the dingy air of the bathroom in her wet nudity, but not for long as Veronica picked up a handy towel and started to lovingly and dutifully wipe her skin, slightly pruning from the long exposure to the wicked water.

Veronica dried her and lifted a dark green dress, one of the scribe's own Kazdin realized. Veronica placed it up and over Kazdin's head, who bowed respectfully and let the scribe cover her. Her servant attitude rendered her speechless.

Veronica guided her to a comfortable looking living room chair and poured her some coffee.

"Are you hungry?" Veronica questioned.

"No, thank you. Not right now." Kazdin said softly. Veronica nodded and sat in a replica of Kazdin's chair and leaned forward.

"Kazzy, I can imagine what you are going through. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but you will be alright." Veronica said, placing a hand on Kazdin's.

"Ever been in love?" Kaz managed, locking her blue eyes on Veronica's dark eyes. The scribe smiled humorlessly.

"Ever been nosy?" Veronica responded, gaining the smile she had intended to illicit from the wounded courier before her.

"It was a long time ago, and we were both pretty young, but I like to think it was love." Veronica explained, stroking her friend's hand.

"Being a member of the Brotherhood, a chapter without a lot of exposure to the outside, mind you, we are all encouraged to procreate to bolster our numbers. You can imagine what group her parents belong to."

Kazdin smiled again at the implication.

"Anyway, when we are 18 we are given the choice to leave or to stay." Veronica stopped and looked at Kaz.

"She decided to leave." Kazdin realized. Veronica nodded.

"Yes. She did. I had hoped that love would be enough to influence her decision. But in the end we need to follow our hearts. She felt a need to leave the strict Brotherhood. I felt a need to stay." Veronica confirmed.

"I am so sorry. But it feels better to know I am not alone in this." Kazdin said.

"No, you aren't. It's well in the past with me. Sometimes I wish I could find her again, but I'm sure she has moved on. But I know that this is as fresh as ever with you." Veronica said.

"There is another issue, though, Ronnie. I killed two unarmed people in cold blood." Kazdin said, guilty as ever.

"I feel the need to talk to you about that." Veronica said. Kaz shuddered.

"I may not be able to." Kazdin mused sadly.

"That's okay, I just need you to listen."

Boone walked alone in the desert, to where, he did not know yet. He had not exactly burned his bridges with Novac, but he felt trapped there already and as his guilt over sleeping around on his late wife had reared its ugly and evil head, he did not want to compound those angst by going to where Carla was murdered.

He stopped for the moment in the middle of nowhere and just rested. He sat his rifle down by the rock he chose as his resting place and relished the chance to let his sweaty skin dry and to let precious oxygen back into his lungs at a more refreshing pace.

His thoughts had remained on Kazdin as he trekked the wasteland, going nowhere in particular for the last two hours. He felt righteous anger at the way she had treated his unit. She was adamantly against the NCR, a thought he could not abide. Her personality and sense of humor had attracted him against his will, but her ferocity against his unit had angered him and he released himself from her employ and had gone away.

Now that he was not in her intoxicating presence, he could think clearly. He was a bitter man by nature: always frowning, always morbid, always short with everyone. The quickness in which he had allowed Kazdin to intrigue him was frightening. Before she had come along, he was engaged in the attitudes that he knew. Anger. Self-pity. Sadness. How dare she steal him away? He was glad for the reprieve of internal self-mutilation that she had brought, but her killing spree had reminded him of just how close he was with the army.

Veronica was a more troubling issue for the man who sought comfort in sadness' cold embrace. The problem was rooted in the fact that he genuinely liked her. As much as Kazdin annoyed him at times, Veronica was soft spoken, friendly and fun. The trust exercises that Kazdin had made the pair go through, as annoying as it was to him, were necessary to finally take him off the edge that she had placed him on and get past his own rough exterior and he had made an instant friend.

However, she chose Kazdin over him, so to his mind she was not the friend to him that he was to her. She could have joined him to leave the murdering courier to her own destiny. She would have to have been integrated into the NCR or at the very least leave the Brotherhood as they would always be enemies of the army, but they could be together. The choice seemed obvious to him.

But she had stayed with her. So therefore, as both a member of the Brotherhood and a friend of a woman hated by the NCR, she would be deemed an outlaw, and he would treat her as such. A wasted opportunity, nothing more and nothing less was she.

He stood. He had made his decision as to his next destination. Shouldering his pack and picking up his rifle he set his jaw and moved toward Camp McCarran.

"I am not about to lie to you, because we both know that a lie will do you no good." Veronica started. Kazdin nodded silently.

"I was speechless when you killed those two soldiers. And it was downright scary the way you almost killed that other private. The deaths of those soldiers will weigh heavily on your mind.

I for one, however, hold no remorse for going to war with those soldiers who were trying to kill those Kahns. One could reason that since they nearly buried you, then you could have just let them die. But do you know what I see?"

Kazdin shook her head, staring at the ground.

"I see a woman who instead of breaking a promise to protect a group of people who were desperate enough to kidnap others for a better bargaining position, instead fighting to the death to protect the people you promised to protect. I don't see badness in you, Kaz. I see honor. Dignity. Duty."

"I honestly don't feel bad about going to war with the army. But those three privates…" Kazdin couldn't finish the line.

"Let me tell you something. If they had guns, do you think they would have killed you?" Veronica asked.

"They didn't have guns. That is why I feel so despicable." Kazdin elaborated.

"Then the only defense I can offer you is this. The wasteland is a very unforgiving place. You are not the first and you will not be the last person to make a mistake. You have a couple of options. You can hide yourself away like an idiot and settle down and try to drown your sorrows in whiskey and dried Jalapeños. Or, you can pick yourself up and atone. You are a good person, and one mistake in your anger does not stop me from believing that. Two or three mistakes that are the same and yes, I will need to leave you for my own conscience." Veronica warned.

"But you are remorseful. You are beating yourself up and that shows me that you regret your actions. That is a very good thing. It means you will not want to put your mind through this kind of grief again."

"Remorse isn't the right word for this feeling, Ronnie. I feel like I hate myself." Kazdin admitted.

"So what are you going to do about it, Kaz? Are you going to shrivel up and die? Hey, maybe you can spend all your time at a bar. Or maybe being a giant dick to people like Boone out there because you cant handle the fact that you made a mistake in the heat of battle. Or you can be who you are. A fighter with unlimited amounts of self respect and dignity. Fight this Kazzy. If you can't do it for yourself right now, then do it for me." Veronica was pleading her case hard.

"Do it for you?" Kazdin asked.

"Yes. You can borrow mine, when your hope is gone. You can borrow mine, when you can't go on. 'cuz this world will not defeat you if we're side by side. When your strength is hard to find, you can borrow mine." Veronica said with a confident smile on her face. Kazdin returned the smile for the first time in two hours.

"I love that song." was all she said as she drew her best friend in for a long awaited hug.

**A/N: We are getting eerily close to the confrontation with Benny and that should happen in the next few chapters. Now, this is as far from comedy as I have ever gotten so far in this story and honestly, I like the new direction. Kazdin will get more serious now, but the comedy will still show itself boldly and proudly. She is still Kazdin, a girl who was shot in the head and the head wound results in a ditziness that I find incredibly fun to write. So, more serious Kazzy and more funny moments on the way everyone. Peace.**


	7. Take Chances, Make Mistakes

THE ADVENTURES OF KAZDIN WILLOW: BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL

Chapter 7: Take Chances, Make Mistakes

_**A/N: Let me start by explaining this chapter in advance. I was thinking how can I make Kazdin seem real and human while still staying true to my writing style? What would Kazdin do when she realizes that she was responsible for murder? The answer came to me: she would make mistakes. She would screw up and descend into self-pity until somebody made her get out of it and continue on her way to redemption. This is what I came up with. Prepare for major feels. I don't expect to make anyone cry, as I know how tough you all are lol, but this chapter is going to get pretty angsty. Comedy will rear its cute head again eventually, but Kazdin is going to have a major hit of humanity in this one.**_

The dry Mojave air held no forgiveness. It had been a whole 24 hours since Boone's departure after he had successfully splintered Kazdin's mind by simply pointing out what she had done.

She had made a mistake. On one hand she knew it was human nature. But on the other hand that fact held zero forgiveness for her. She was wounded and the more she tried to justify it, the more she felt sorry for herself.

Her melancholy reached Veronica. She tried, she honestly did, to make Kazdin aware of the fact that she could still atone and that her life was not based on a single pit fall. The words were hollow to Kazdin however as she continually blamed herself.

She wanted desperately to smile at her friend, her confidante in these dark times. To tell her that things would be okay, that she would be soaring again in no time. But she could not.

She couldn't hide the dark frown on her lips as her eyes would tear up while she trudged on. It felt like she was carrying a ship anchor on her back as she marched. Her mind was so muddled in conflict that her very steps felt like they would get her no closer to redemption.

She knew Veronica was worried about her. She had voiced that feeling multiple times as she tried to make her way to Freeside. As much as Kaz wanted to tell her friend things would be fine, again, she could not. She would sneak a glance at the scribe and catch the fear in her eyes at her friend's well-being and Kaz knew in her broken heart that she was powerless to assuage Veronica's pain.

"Kazdin! Stop!" Veronica shouted. The Texan looked slowly to Veronica.

"You are making me crazy! This attitude gets you nowhere. I want to reason with you but your emotions are like a brick wall right now, and nothing I can say will get through!" Veronica shouted, hands on her hips as she vented her frustration.

To her surprise, Kazdin said nothing. Her expression refused to change from its frown.

"I am not trying to be mean but this is pissing me off, making me antsy about you. You are going to stumble onto someone who isn't as friendly as me and you are going to get yourself killed! Why would I want that?!" Veronica said, her shrill voice announcing the grief of a thousand rebuffs.

"Why do I deserve anything less?" Kazdin mumbled.

"Who are you?" Veronica said softly, her eyes hard and angry.

"I remember a woman who had a sense of humor, who had a boat load of self-confidence and determination. It's like you're a completely different person! I never thought I would say this about YOU, but Kaz, you may as well be a freaking puppet!" Veronica shouted, finally exasperated with all of Kazdin's rebuffs.

Kazdin said nothing for a long moment. Her eyes studied the light brown and tan colored earth for what seemed to herself like days. Finally she moved toward Veronica. The scribe expected maybe a hug. Even a punch to the face would show more emotion than the other woman had shown in the last 24 hours.

Instead the wounded courier who had stared Vulpes Inculta in the face and killed his entire platoon, the woman who survived a bullet in the head, the fighter who would take on the whole of New Vegas to square things with the man who had nearly killed her walked past her best friend and with her back to her, Kazdin spoke two words that would tear at the shorter woman for days to come.

"You're fired."

LINE BREAK

Kazdin made her way through the wasteland again, this time solo. For the first time in days, she was painfully alone. Her thoughts beat her brain up constantly, a vile thought about herself searing her mind with every footstep.

Kazdin didn't care anymore. She was a fighter. She wanted revenge but she had made her bed now. Would her day come in the next week? The next month? The next year? No. Whatever Benny was planning in Vegas with her platinum chip would happen within the next few weeks and after that she would miss her window and she would be another cog in the wheel that would be whatever Benny was planning. She would either adapt or die. But death didn't seem like such a bad place to escape to right now.

She realized that she was being dramatic. Overly dramatic? Perhaps just barely, but she felt she had a right to do that. It seemed like such a small mistake. But it ate her up. Why? Why did she let it affect her? Why did she let her emotions run off and make her hurt her best friend who was only trying to help? She killed two people barely out of their teens. But there were people out there who tortured others for fun, who were addicted to every kind of chem, who raped and pillaged and raided to get by. She was not evil, she was just sick of herself and those feelings led her to shatter a beautiful friendship.

_Another mistake in my web of mistakes. _Kazdin's eager-to-torture mind told her. Or had she thought those mean words herself?

Before she knew it she was staring up at the demolished overpass that served as the gate into Primm.

_Good a place as any. _Kaz thought to herself. Her boots crunched gravel as she made her way toward the Vikki and Vance casino and more importantly, the bar contained within.

LINE BREAK

"Why did you return, Boone? I thought you were living pissed off at your unit because of Bitter Springs? I signed your release form myself. So forgive my curiosity, but why are you here?" Colonel Hsu asked, steepling his fingers behind his desk.

"Let's say I remembered why I love my army, sir." Boone answered in a low voice.

The Colonel did not answer quickly; instead he studied the man clad in dusty mercenary fatigues. He looked away and shook his head, thinking.

"You disobeyed a direct order and it turned out to be the right move in all seriousness. But you were still insubordinate. If you were to disobey another direct order on duty then you run the risk of failing this critical mission and you put yourself and your entire team in danger." Colonel Hsu said, standing from his chair and moving closer to Boone and standing straight.

"Sir, I am still a damn good shot and I have not lost a step in battle. I was truly angry with high command for such a blatant miscalculation and the subsequent slaughter of civilians, but I realize now that it was a mistake and that I should not have left. I will return to my post and I will do anything it takes to make the defeat of the Legion a success and the takeover of New Vegas easier." Boone said, confident.

"I am still curious at your sudden change of heart. I vaguely recall you telling General Oliver that he can fornicate with himself. And now you are here begging to be let back in." Hsu stated evenly.

"I don't beg." Boone growled.

"So I stand corrected, but why your change of heart?"

"There was a girl. She made me see the light." Boone answered simply.

He had the Colonel's undivided attention.

LINE BREAK

Kazdin swayed on her barstool, her eyes unfocused and her breath heavy with the smell of whiskey. She had not drank this much since she could remember and rather than her usual beer, she had a tangible urge for something harder. Something that punished her on its way down.

The Primm townsfolk had seen her and those who recognized her gave her a wide berth. She had the proverbial "fuck off" sign painted on her forehead when she had started, but now felt dizzy and her mood while still very angry, had settled into something more tolerable.

"Gimme another!" Kazdin slurred to a female barkeep. She had replaced Ruby at the bar because she refused to serve Kazdin the shot after shot of hard liquor she had craved. The courier was the one person who Ruby would not enable and so she took the rest of the night off.

"I ought to call your limit." The woman said. Kazdin reached out and grabbed the bottle of liquor from behind the counter.

"There are no last calls in the wasteland." Kazdin slurred angrily. She sloppily poured herself a glass of the burning amber liquid and held up the drink, sloshing it around.

"Here's to lost love and regret!" She called before cheering herself and slamming the liquid back into her throat.

"So, a gutter huh? That's the last place I wanted to find you." A familiar voice called. Kaz whirled around as best as she could in her current inebriated condition.

"Who…the fuck said…that?" Kazdin challenged, whipping her head around and searching for the owner of the voice.

"I did, fucker. You need to sit back down and listen to what I gotta say." The heavily accented voice commanded as its owner stepped forward into Kazdin's blurred vision. It belonged to a pretty red head whose pet dog stayed behind her a couple of steps, but watched Kaz warily.

"Sunny Smiles! C'mon, get over here and grab a fuckin' drink!" Kazdin called out happily to her friend. A hard fist hit her square in the nose and she felt the blood rush out as she was forced back into her barstool. Cheyenne barked loudly a few times as if cheering her master on.

"I'm not fucking thirsty." Sunny said.

Kazdin growled in rage and rushed her friend. She shook her head, stepped out of the way and brought her knee into Kazdin's gut, doubling her over before delivering a sharp double axe handle shot to her back, knocking her breath away.

She forcefully picked the other woman back up and threw her heavily into the row of barstools. She missed the seat and slammed into the wooden bar with a loud thud.

"You think this is funny? I didn't pester you to go out and get Benny just so you can crawl away to the nearest fucking watering hole the first time you fuck up." Sunny drawled, her eyes wary for another attack from the very drunk Kazdin.

"How the fuck did you know about that?!" Kazdin raged from the floor. She stood shakily to her feet.

"You think you're the only person with friends out there? I knew Veronica before I ever met you. And you better sit the fuck down before I sit your ass down." Sunny threatened.

Kazdin rushed Sunny again with tears flying off of her face. Sunny's rock like fist caught her right between the eyes, and Sunny followed that blow up with two more, one to the right cheek and the other to her already damaged nose.

She staggered back, but swung again.

"I love you! I fucking love you Sunny! I love you!" Kazdin screamed in drunken blind rage as her three shots connected with Sunny's face. Sunny blocked her fourth blow and reared back before delivering a shot to Kazdin's temple that rocked the woman and forced her onto the ground on her back, however she remained conscious.

"You love me enough to attack me! You love Veronica enough to ignore her the exact same way Boone ignored you! As much as that pissed you off you'd think your stupid ass would know how it would make Veronica feel! You love Ronnie enough to FIRE her for trying to fucking help! If that is what love is to you, then I fucking give up on your worthless ass!" Sunny was snarling with anger by the time she finished.

"Well? What's your smart ass remark now?" Sunny demanded, her fists clenched into tiny boulders at her sides while she seethed. There was no remark forthcoming.

"I get it, Boone's a fucking dick and you will eventually find him and confront him about what he made you think and feel, but as much as Boone's being a dick, you're being a fucking bitch!" Sunny scolded harshly, but it was for her friend's own good.

"I'm being a bitch?! Don't you think I know that?" Kazdin railed from her spot on the floor near the broken furniture.

"Then fucking quit being a bitch! It's not that hard! You are a nice person, you make friends easily and you've got the most incredible sense of humor that I have ever seen anywhere at any time. I loved being around you, but this person I see lying on the fucking floor drunk out of her fucking mind, I think she's lower than the Brahmin shit on my shoe. You better wise the fuck up and find out who your friends are, or you will never make it out here." Sunny finished as she made her way to the door.

"How can I? I am a failure! I am a murderer!" Kaz cried out, her tears stinging her reddened eyes. Sunny stopped for the briefest of moments, and looking back over her shoulder spoke softly, but with great conviction.

"If you were the first person to make a mistake on the battlefield, then nobody in the god damned wasteland would have ever heard the term Bitter Springs. You killed two people. Get the fuck over it." Sunny stated, her words as strong as ever.

Kazdin passed out as she heard the large oaken doors slam shut as Sunny walked out into the cool Mojave night air.,

LINE BREAK

"Wait a minute. You served with the traitor Kazdin Willow? She is one of NCR's top enemies right now." Hsu said unbelievably.

"I served with her, not for her. And that was before she was a traitor. She murdered a unit of the NCR at Boulder City for following the kill order on the Khans who had taken our boys hostage and shortly after, I left." Boone explained, calmly in his deep voice.

"Why did you leave?" Hsu asked, sitting on the edge of his desk.

"Moral reasons. I couldn't let what she did slide." Boone said.

"Are you aware that the enemy of the NCR has teamed up with a known scribe with the Brotherhood of Steel?" Hsu asked.

Boone blanched. He hated the courier right now. He felt he had the right to do so. But he did not want Veronica to be placed in danger just yet. As sad as he was that she had placed Kaz over himself, he didn't want her to die.

"I…was not aware." Boone lied. Hsu snorted.

"That means you did know this fact. Why did you not report this woman?" Hsu demanded.

"I…don't know." Boone said honestly, "I guess I liked her."

"Hmm. Fell for a Brotherhood member did you? How is that even possible given their status with an army you claim to respect?" Hsu asked, folding his arms.

"She seemed like a nice woman. But she did choose an enemy of the NCR over an NCR soldier, so I guess I should have seen it coming." Boone sighed. He slumped, this was it.

"She could have defected from the Brotherhood and joined the NCR ranks, but she refused and chose to stay with the murdering courier. You are right, sir. She is not to be trusted." Boone said, he could barely contain his own sadness. His heart was deflated at the prospect that Veronica would soon be an enemy of his.

"I see this news has let you down. Are you still too timid to follow your orders?" Hsu asked, moving to within inches of the sniper. He could not answer for a long time. After a few moments, he finally breathed a deep sigh and cleared his throat.

"No sir. What would you have me do?" Boone stated crisply.

"Good. Report to Colonel Moore at the Dam for your assignment." Colonel Hsu ordered.

Boone offered a sharp salute, which the Colonel returned.

"I must say, damn good to have you back soldier." Hsu stated.

"Damn good to be back, sir." Boone stated.

_**A/N: I gotta say that this was tough to write, but necessary. I don't like being too mean to Kazzy, but I felt that with the inclusion of a darker side of Kazdin, beating herself up for her actions, that she needed to go on a short journey to reconcile herself with her friends and eventually get that drive, that determination back into her life. **_

_**I listened to a couple of sad songs to prepare for writing this chapter. The first is called "Beautiful" by Eminem and the second is called "Call My Name" by Third Day. Both songs set the mood very well and I love them both. I suspect that my lovely readers should really be having some feels over this one. I mean Kazdin Willow fires Veronica for trying to help and has a fist fight with Sunny, her first friend she can remember after waking up. Who can't feel that?**_


	8. Return to Goodsprings for a Sunny Smile

CHAPTER EIGHT: RETURN TO GOODSPRINGS FOR A SUNNY SMILE

Kazdin awoke and immediately brought a hand to her wounded face. She brought herself up into a sitting position and scanned her aching eyes around the dingy interior she currently occupied.

Her head throbbed from more than just the alcohol se\he had imbibed the night before. The facts of the night came back to her and made her head throb even more.

She wanted to lie back down into the soft bed and curse the worlds and Sunny Smiles, but her pain would not allow her to drift back to sleep, so she swept her feet over the side of the bed and placed them onto the rough wooden floor.

"Look who's awake. Are you alright?" a voice asked from the shack's tiny kitchen.

Kazdin jumped from the voice and whipped her head toward the sound, immediately regretting it as she winced from the pangs of pain echoing in her skull.

"Gramma Ruby?" Kaz called out, bleary eyes halfway closed as her right hand scratched her ratty black hair. Her face scrunched into a thoughtful look.

"It's been a long time since you've called me that." Ruby said, warmly. She appeared in the room and she headed toward the sitting woman. She handed Kaz a cup of hot coffee and she accepted the drink gratefully.

"Thanks." Kazdin said softly as she took a deep drink. She sighed when she took her lips from the mouth of the cup.

"I did something bad." Kazdin said, tearing up in her admittance.

"If that redhead was right, you did a few bad things. Come on into the kitchen. I made you some breakfast." Ruby said.

"I would be grateful." She said, wiping her leaking eyes with a hand.

Kazdin followed Ruby into the kitchen. She already had a seat pulled out and the tall Texan sat.

"So how bad do I look?" Kazdin asked, but regretted the question when she saw Ruby's sympathetic smile.

"I've seen worse that's for sure, but it sure ain't pretty. You're pretty banged up sweetheart." She explained. The younger woman sighed, defeated.

"Did you and that woman have a history?" Ruby asked as she set a platter of sausage and eggs before her. Kaz nodded.

"She's actually a friend of mine from Goodsprings, although after last nights beat down, I doubt she likes me anymore." Kaz answered. Her eyes narrowed and she spoke again.

"I don't like **her **anymore. My mistakes are none of her business."

"I think she still likes you." Ruby interjected. Kazdin shot her a look and she explained.

"Why would she come all this way to kick some sense into you otherwise? She cares, and maybe you needed a little reminding."

"It's got to be more complicated than that." Kaz argued, stubbornly.

"Why don't you tell me in your own words what happened. I'm not trying to judge you. But I think talking about it might help." Ruby said, sitting down next to her. She covered Kazdin's hand with her own and her dam broke.

She spent the next two hours unloading everything on her mind, from her hatred of the NCR to just who Veronica was and why she left the woman behind. The words gushed from her and Rub just sat and let her vent.

When she had told everything she sat back into her seat and went about the process of eating her cooling breakfast. She did not exactly have an appetite, but the older woman had prepared it and Kazdin would not have rudeness to a caring elder added onto her list of crimes.

"I love you Kazdin." Ruby said finally. The first words she had spoken in hours. Kazdin stopped eating and stared at Ruby in wonder.

"Why?" She asked. She certainly felt unlovable.

"There is a lot of pressure on you and a lot of influences on your young life. Remember when you told me of your parents?"

"No." Kaz answered gently.

"You spoke lovingly about them. They were merchants in Texas, and from what you told me, they were very loving to you, a rarity in these days." Ruby paused.

"I remember being 25. Everything seems to be insurmountable and you think this will last forever. Veronica will probably forgive you if you go to her. She was just trying to help you, so I'm sure she is hurt, but I bet she misses you." Ruby explained. Kaz nodded miserably.

"You know you have made a mistake, so admit it. If I were you, I would start with finding Veronica and then you can start moving forward again."

"I don't know how I will find her. I have no idea where the local Brotherhood chapter is located. But I think I know where to find out."

Kazdin thanked Ruby for breakfast and insight and set off to find a woman she hoped still gave a shit about her.

Kaz exited the door to the Nash's and set her boots toward Goodsprings.

**LINE BREAK**

The Hoover Dam seemed bigger than it was the last time he saw it at the war of its original takeover. Boone thought it had something to do with the higher number of NCR bodies walking the perimeter and going about their business.

A conglomerate of NCR soldiers, Desert Ranger peace keepers, Engineers for the dam's inner workings and high ranking officials creating a mob of humanity as this was the NCR's main base in the Mojave and it was protected fiercely.

Boone nodded to a fellow sniper atop one of the guard spires along the dam's causeway. He stepped upon the stairs leading to the dam's main entryway. He removed his shades upon entering the dim, nearly dark room and set about finding an elevator.

He was about to actively find the one woman in NCR high command he did not wish to see, the Ice Queen herself, Colonel Cassandra Moore, the highest ranking officer at the dam, second in command of General Lee Oliver himself.

The problem was that if ever there was a woman who would do anything to get things done, it was her and that old as ice attitude carried over to her treatment of troops under her command. She was not abusive but the word 'disobey' had no place in her vocabulary. It was her way or the highway to hell, and Boone had been assigned to her.

The dam's inner hallways were mazelike and he soon found himself walking in circles. He eventually found his way into the cavernous main room, filled every inch with engineers and scientists.

Down the gangway was the door he was looking for. Two soldiers stood guard and paid him no heed except to sneer. They knew about him and his insubordinate record. The beret on his head and his apparent proximity to the Colonel made them speak nothing and allow him to pass unhindered.

The halls here were no less mazelike, but he found his way to Colonel Moore's spacious office before too long.

"Craig Boone. I've been expecting you. What, you have trouble finding the place?" Moore scoffed coldly as she set down a file she had been working on, reporting troop movements across the Mojave.

"As a matter of fact, yes I did ma'am." Boone replied.

"I thought you had run off again. I was looking forward to sending my wolf pack after you. Shame." The Colonel replied, a dangerous look in her eyes.

Boone shivered at Moore's unofficial nickname for her hand picked legion of assassins of enemies of NCR, but he felt his anger rise at the implication.

"How's the leg, ma'am." Boone responded drily, barely hiding the mockery underneath military professionalism. She looked up pissed and he smiled internally.

"Don't get cute motherfucker or I will feed you to the wolves myself. You were assigned to me, I didn't choose you. I hand pick every soldier on my squad and I get saddled with a man who gets a free ride into the best unit the NCR has to offer." Colonel Moore scoffed. She stood, her war injury burning from its mention and her movement.

"I have no place for an insubordinate deserter on my team. Let's get this straight right now, if you so much as hesitate to act under my command, you will be cast out and hunted. You will not survive for long." Cassandra boasted, hobbling to within inches of Boone's face.

_Close enough to kick the shit out of that knee of hers. _Boone thought, but his face did not betray him.

With her height she was able to look directly into Boone's eyes and hers were the eyes of a career military woman, except where most of the NCR, General Oliver included, held warmth and humanity, Colonel Moore's harsh brown eyes held coldness and ruthlessness.

Colonel Moore had let her statement hang in the air and Boone believed every word. He had reenlisted out of anger and was assigned to Moore's unit and he knew it was because he was out of chances.

Colonel Moore treated insubordination with extreme prejudice. In a battle situation her rule was fail to act on a directive and it is seen as treason, and she would order his death sentence which would eventually be carried out by the letter.

It made sense as her team was arguably the most important in the NCR military. Her teams were the front lines, her assassins and lone figures who specialized in infiltration and special errand missions.

She was required to be strict, that she be feared among the brass as her position was the most precarious. It was the nature of the beast and Moore was the Den Mother.

"Yes ma'am." Was Boone's only reply.

**LINE BREAK**

Goodsprings was in sight and Kazdin trembled. If she were Sunny Smiles, she would not let Kazdin Willow in. The difference was that along the walk from Primm back to where her journey had started, Goodsprings, she had come to terms with what she had done and vowed to go get her friends back and set about finding Benny.

Her mind was made up after Ruby's reassurance, but as she had travelled she became surer of herself and allowed upon her mind the role of leadership once again.

Kazdin breathed a sigh before entering the town. She ignored several waves of recognition from the locals. Her mind was on business mode and would not get distracted. She eyed the saloon and kept walking.

As soon as she opened the door, her eyes fell upon Sunny and Cheyenne. Sunny's expression soured and her smile disappeared when she recognized Kaz.

"Sunny…I know I'm the last person you want to see but we need to talk and I just need you to hear me out for a while." Kazdin said, her eyes betraying her soft emotion of sorrow.

Sunny's eyes softened a little and she nodded before silently leading them to an out of earshot booth. She sat heavily and motioned for Kaz to sit.

"We're here, now speak." Sunny said angrily, but she didn't raise her voice.

"First I want to concede that I deserved that beating you gave me at the Vikki and Vance." Kaz said.

Her guilty admittance visibly shocked Sunny. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.

"What, you thought I came back for revenge?" Kaz asked. Sunny nodded.

"You should know better than anyone that I don't seek revenge easily." Kaz muttered, offering a smile. One that Sunny did not return. The red head folded her arms.

"I also know you haven't been in your right mind. The way you deal with mistakes sucks ass." Sunny deadpanned. Kaz sighed.

"I deserve that too. Sunny I am sorry I let you and Veronica down. I have failed as a fiend to both of you. I have said and done despicable things in my grief. I just need you to know that I realize what I have done, and I am ready to return to my leadership role and do things right." Kazdin said. She looked as if she meant it.

"While I can't say it's alright for obvious reasons, I can tell you mean what you said. You need to know now that ALL indecision must leave your mind. You're done with pussy footin' around. You are a natural leader and its time for you to lead. Are you serious about dropping your indecision and hot and cold attitude?" Sunny asked seriously.

"Absolutely. I am serious and I am ready for anything." Kazdin said confidently. Sunny knew she was.

"Good. I know where Veronica is. But I want to come with you." Sunny said.

"You do? Why?" Kaz asked astonished. She was glad she wanted to come along but was surprised by it at the same time.

"Well Veronica's always been a great friend and, hell, I wont be seeing any action around here any time soon. And besides, you are my friend too and I love you." Sunny listed her reasons and Kazdin smiled and thanked her.

"Before we get into any action whatsoever, we have to make a trip to the Gun Runners and get you better equipped. You won't be taking down any Centurions with only a Varmint Rifle." Kaz said. Sunny Smiled again.

"Good to be with you again…ma'am." Sunny said. Kazdin shuddered visibly, making the red head laugh.

"Don't call me ma'am. Just call me Kaz." She said.

"Glad we speak the same language." Sunny said, laughing.

Kazdin joined in and the reunited friends stood and hugged together for a long time before setting off toward the door side by side into an uncertain wasteland.


	9. An Adult Rite of Passage

ADULT RITE OF PASSAGE

"Holy…fucking…SHIT BALLS! How many bunkers do you think there are? There's gotta be like a THOUSAND of these things here! I hope to God you know which one is the right one or we will be searching all day to find it." Kazdin said in exasperated wonder at the many underground entrances that she could actually make out in the artificial sand storm that blanketed Hidden Valley. Sunny Smiles laughed.

"Hell yeah I know which one to use. How do you think I knew to come to Hidden Valley?" she asked.

"That's a good point. I'm glad you know because I would never know where to start." Kaz said.

"Well that's obvious." Sunny joked. Kaz slapped her arm playfully.

"Don't be dour, I was being serious. I'm really glad you're fucking here." Kaz said with a sigh of relief.

The duo kept walking through the sandstorm with Sunny looking for a particular landmark. Kazdin adjusted her uncomfortable goggles and trudged on. Sunny had suggested that Kaz purchase or loot a pair of goggles as soon as possible as the sandstorms of Hidden Valley were legendary. She had thought to bring a pair of her own and Kazdin had looted a pair from a group of Powder Gangers that they had encountered on their way to the valley.

As uncomfortable as they were, Kaz was very glad that she had them. After all a gust of sand in her blue eyes would have been considerably less comfortable than the itching, too tight goggles.

"This'll be it." Sunny said as she knocked on a particular metal door and looking to Kaz. She nodded and they entered the underground complex. Kaz immediately took her goggles off and hooked them through one of her belt loops.

"Thank God, those things were giving me a headlock!" Kaz complained. Sunny laughed.

"Nobody FORCED you to take a set off of a guy who was smaller than you." Sunny said wryly.

"Everyone's smaller than me. I'm damn near 6 foot." Kaz whined.

"That ain't a bad thing, sugar." Sunny said with a smile, "tall women are sexy as hell."

The look in her friend's eye turned Kaz on to no end, but there was a time and a place for everything and…

"Uh, Kaz…eyes up, chop chop. There's a time and a place for everything and this is neither." Sunny groused, rolling her eyes at the horn dog.

"Sorry." Kazdin reddened that her friend had caught her staring. She still recalled that first night they were together fondly and…

_No, dammit, keep your mind on your mission and off your damn libido for once. _Kaz mentally chastised herself.

She pushed forward toward the locked door. It opened suddenly and she and Sunny were stunned by a weapon discharge of some sort. The last thing she saw before she went unconscious was a group of Paladins approaching her and Sunny with round metal devices.

_Explosive collars…fucking great! _Kaz crowed in her mind as her eyelids shut.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Colonel Cassandra Moore circled Boone as he stood at attention. Her lips spread into a Cheshire grin as her eyes fell upon her prey. Boone's body had never been lost upon the opposite sex and he knew it. She may have been thinking some very inappropriate things. He didn't know why, but the thought of the Colonel perhaps undressing him with her eyes was unnerving.

Of course Moore was a knockout. Many of his fellow snipers spent their drunken downtime card games speaking of which NCR higher-ups they would bed if given a chance and every one of his sniper fellows besides 10 of Spades said they would do Colonel Moore. Speculation ran rampant, especially with Corporal Betsy that perhaps Moore was a lesbian because her inner-army fraternization was legendary for being cold at best.

"Now that we know who is in charge, Boone. I have a mission for you." Moore said as her piercing eyes travelled back to Boone's. He shifted uncomfortably beneath Moore's gaze.

"Does this have to do with you staring at my chest?" Boone whispered, a growl evident in his voice.

"What if I was? Would that make you uncomfortable?" Moore asked a little too sweetly, a trademark of the sarcastic.

"Yes ma'am it certainly would." Boone answered. His body shivered when her gloved hand reached out and pressed against his scarred pectoral.

"And what would the penalty for that be?" Moore asked, the steel never leaving her voice.

Boone had to admit that he had fantasized about the Colonel, but that was a very long time ago. Before his maddening doubts about his army. Before Bitter Springs. Before Moore had become a stone cold bitch. A stone cold fox, for sure, but a bitch nevertheless. Now Boone simply saw her as the cold-hearted Ice Queen she was.

"I would say, with all due respect ma'am, that the penalty for such a report to your superior officers would result in at least a demotion. NCR regulations are very clear upon the repercussions of an unwanted sexual advance between an officer and a recruit." Boone's voice was pure professionalism and Boone smiled inwardly at the momentary darkening of the Colonel's pupils. She moved her hand from his chest and stood straight.

"You are correct Boone. I regard your memorization of the NCR manuals in the spirit offered." Moore's voice betrayed not an iota of any feelings of rejection, but that look in her normally deep penetrating gaze was all he needed to see to feel the press of pride upon his soul.

"Your mission has been specially selected by General Oliver and tailor-made for a man like you." Colonel Moore said. She smiled. Boone blanched. A smile from Colonel Moore was never a good thing. It usually meant a lot of hell would be dropped on some poor unfortunate soul.

"This mission...you say it was made for me. I assume it either has to do with my specialization in sniping or..." Boone said but he felt he could not finish. Moore leered closer to him.

"Or..." she whispered with that evil grin.

"Or it has something to do...with my past." Boone said, having no idea why he felt so apprehensive.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"I apologize for the collars, but we have to know if we can trust you. We will give you a task, simple really and should you complete it and return to us at that time, we will release you and you will be free to come and go." Paladin Ramos explained. Kaz had awakened and aside from a minor headache, she felt no pain. Sunny complained of the same headache as well as a sore shoulder, likely the result of landing hard on the steel floor. She looked none too happy as she scratched her neck beneath the collar.

"What is it? What do we have to do to gain entrance?" Sunny asked irritably. Kaz tried to shush her with a glare, only to turn her head when Ramos sighed.

"No, I understand your anger. We have to be sure though. The Mojave Brotherhood has made a lot of enemies." Ramos said apologetically.

"We know Veronica." Kazdin said, trying a more polite track.

"I believe you. Still we need this done and it won't take you more than a few minutes if you do it right." Ramos said nodding his head.

"There is an NCR ranger down in one of the bunkers. He is spying on our troop movements. Being major enemies of the NCR you can see how this would present a very dangerous problem for us. If they find our bunker then they will likely storm our gates and wipe us all out." Ramos said. His voice presented a tinge of regret within, as if he did not feel the same way but rather had to because the NCR had sworn the Brotherhood as a hated enemy.

"Enemies of the NCR. You and me both." Kazdin said as her eyes narrowed.

"We will do this. I don't want to see your group wiped out. The only group I want to see destroyed is the Legion." she answered after a moment of deliberation.

"Now, I am no fan of the NCR, but you need to know if you do this then there ain't no turning back. If you declare yourself an enemy then the NCR will most likely try to have you assassinated." Sunny warned, looking into her friend's eye.

"Most people in the Mojave see the NCR as the good guys but most of these people have only seen one side of them. I have seen a lot of signs that the NCR is not as good as most people think. There have been a few soldiers I have met that seem to be completely sound in their morals and they seem to have a good head on their shoulders.

But the collective NCR has been involved in some very shady business. There was Bitter Springs which seemed more like a wipeout attempt than an honest mistake. There is what happened between myself and the Khans at Boulder City and the attempted murder of several of the tribe's members. I don't know what it will take to completely restore my faith in them, but it seems like they are trying to force their way into New Vegas. Do you think annexation is really what this place needs?"

Kazdin had a feeling that independence would be a much better deal than for the whole of the Mojave to be taken by force. She knew that the good people and even the not so good people needed a revolution. She had knowledge of several groups which would have her back. She was not strong enough on her own to accept this massive undertaking. But perhaps the Brotherhood of Steel was the first ally she needed to not only raise an army of her own, but to also be trained extensively to be the warrior she knew she could be.

Kazdin knew that she was a better than average fighter and a nice shot with her guns, but she also knew that with enough time and training from the Brotherhood that she could become a true master with her weapons and tactics. And the Power Armor she would wield would only strengthen her resistance to death. Her eyes became more and more determined with her thoughts.

Sunny smiled and nodded her head.

"Look out Mojave. Kazdin is back." Sunny said triumphantly. Kazdin smiled and turned to Ramos.

"We will do it." Kazdin said simply with a brand new look of righteous determination in her blue eyes.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"Are you ready to earn your place back in this army?" Cassandra asked in a haunting monotone, a sound that let him know that only an affirmative answer would be acceptable. Boone was concerned because this seemed all too familiar. However, he knew that he had made his bed and that if he said no that there was a real chance that Moore would draw her magnum and shoot him dead and that nobody around the dam would give a shit.

"Yes ma'am." Boone said as he swallowed the mountainous lump in his throat.

"You must kill Kazdin Willow. She is a danger to this army and must be destroyed. Her potential allies in the Brotherhood will be taken care of by the Wolf Pack. You will track her and if she even gives you an uncomfortable feeling that she is even thinking about trying to assault our army, you will shoot to kill. Is that clear?" Cassandra said menacingly as she moved to within inches of Boone's suddenly uncomfortable body. He knew he felt conflicting emotions about the woman, but did he hate her? Enough to kill her?

Boone decided that only if she was right beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt about the army would he spare her. This would add precious days onto his alleged investigation, but he would not kill her if it turned out she was correct about her misgivings. However should she be wrong, he would kill her gladly for her misguided wrong doings against his beloved two-headed bear.

"That is clear, ma'am. I will begin a clandestine investigation into her agenda and I will shoot to kill if she decides on taking the dam." Boone said, hoping against hope that his voice sounded strong and not emotional. Moore seemed to study his face for entirely too long before she smiled slightly at him.

"Good. There's the door." Colonel Moore said evenly before Boone shifted uncomfortably and left for the aforementioned port. He prayed silently to whatever deity still remained that Kazdin was right.


	10. A War in the Shadow of the Valley

CHAPTER TEN: A War in the Shadow of the Valley

**A/N: Hello Fanfic readers and fans of Kaz! Nice to see ya. How you feeling tonight? Good? Well, that's awesome. Can I refresh your drink? No? Well, fine, didn't want to refill your drink anyway, because you are a bitch. Lol. Anyway, it's been 10 chapters and I feel this is an anniversary. An anniversary since I sprang a slightly crazy courier on the world. Kaz ain't for everyone, as I have said since the beginning and she has had her share of opposition from anons and other folks, but she has kept her head through thick and thin and has stayed who she is. She has fallen and gotten back onto her figurative horse. **

**Now she starts her training with the Brotherhood of Steel. The title of this series is Kazdin Willow: Brotherhood of Steel, and now it is time for her to seize her destiny. She will make new friends and maybe even a couple new enemies as she makes one choice that will change her future forever. This choice will paint her as an enemy to both Caesar's Legion and the NCR. She will have tougher fights and will ultimately earn her reputation as a Mojave Badass…who is sometimes less than smart. But who needs brains when you have an army backing you and a marksmanship that rivals that of the entire NCR First Recon unit? **

**So thank you all you lovely readers. If you consider yourself a fan of this series, I am humbled and I appreciate your following. As a writer, when I see that even one new person has followed and ESPECIALLY favorited my story, it makes me feel that I made a difference at least in entertaining you for 20 minutes or however long it takes a person to read one of my chapters. I do this for you as much as for me. Love you all and keep reading **

The greeting that Sunny and Kaz received upon the completion of their duties was much warmer than the first. Their explosive collars were removed and they were welcomed inside the underground bunker.

Kaz walked slowly behind Paladin Ramos and took in the dull metal structure with awe. She was tempted for only a moment to stay locked up down here, but she knew that the idea was ludicrous. She had a destiny to unfold and she needed to proceed with her mission.

Kaz knew that she wanted to continue her journey but that with the absence of Boone she needed new allies. She would be shot and left for dead by assassins if she were to brave the long road ahead alone. Not to mention the fact that with herself and Sunny alone she did not exactly have a force to be reckoned with.

She admitted defeat for now and decided to put her main journey on hold for the moment in order to gain favor with the one faction she felt would accept her and make her exactly who she needed to be.

There were concerns to weigh. In her travels she had heard that this chapter of the Brotherhood was not exactly held in high regard around the Mojave. There had to be a reason for that, and she would manipulate her way into the inner workings and do her best to secure some change. If that meant moving her way into being the Elder of the chapter, then so be it. Kaz knew that the likelihood of that happening was beyond slim to none, but she would do her best to argue her point when the time came.

Her limited knowledge of the Codex stated that changing this chapter's deeply held beliefs would take a miracle, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. She had options, she realized, but they were clouded in a shroud of mystery at the moment. However, on instinct, Kazdin knew that they would show themselves with her patience.

For now, her solo quest was to find Veronica and convince her to forgive her crimes. She asked Paladin Ramos if he knew where the scribe was and he indicated the stairwell with a nod of his head.

"She will likely be in the mess hall at this time. I have to say she hasn't been as annoying as she normally is. She has been for the most part quiet." He said. Kazdin gave him a sour look and he rolled his eyes. He pointed sharply to the stairwell again.

"She's waiting for you. Get going." He said firmly.

Kaz swallowed her retort, but Sunny did not.

"No need to be a dick okay? We're just worried about our friend."

Kazdin placed a warm hand on her shoulder and asked her to come along.

"I'm not gonna just sit back and let someone talk…" Sunny began but Kaz cut her off.

"You are the one who made me take the reigns and be in charge. If I am going to be this great leader you seem to think I am, then you need to listen to me Sunny. Get moving." Kazdin said taking her friend's hand and tugging her toward the stairwell. She relented with a rigid sigh and breathed out a "fine."

"We need these peoples' help. It won't do to go around picking fights with everyone who talks down to us. We are outsiders here and we will need to earn these men and women's respect. When we finally earn their respect, then feel free to knock out anybody who says a cross word to you. Until then you need to be a bit more light-hearted." Kazdin explained as the duo made their way down stairs.

"Yes ma'am, what are your orders?" Sunny said sarcastically. Kazdin stopped and did an immediate about-face.

"Do you or do you not want me to be the leader here?" Kazdin snapped, annoyed at her friends' nonchalance.

"Yes, but you…" Sunny started, but Kaz held up a hand.

"Yes or no, Sunny. This is your last chance to talk me out of it. After this, you need to be the friend I know you to be, but I need you also to defer to me when it comes to leadership responsibilities. Now yes or no, do you want me to be the leader here?"

"But…" seeing Kazdin's serious look she sighed.

"Yes." Sunny said finally.

"Okay. Then it is settled. Stop all this sarcastic _ma'am_ bullshit. You thrust this upon me, and this is how it will be. I want to be your friend, not just some commanding presence. I want to have fun with you and talk with you on a level playing field. But Sunny, you need to listen to me." Kazdin spoke firmly. Sunny nodded.

"Okay Kaz. I'm sorry. What do you need from me?" Sunny said seriously.

"It's okay, we are fine, so don't worry about it. As for what I need, I want you to be Sunny. Be who I know you are. The sweet and wonderful Sunny Smiles who I met when I first woke up from a head injury induced coma. Be that woman I know you were when we lay together by the campfire. Okay?" Kazdin explained. Sunny looked misty eyed as she nodded, remembering.

"Okay, Kazdin. You got it."

Kaz smiled as they walked along. Silence passed in the few moments it took for them to find the small alcove which held the mess hall. Upon entering the tiny room, they immediately noticed Veronica eating alone.

Sunny nudged Kaz.

"I'll be at the shooting range." She whispered. Kaz nodded and Veronica looked up upon hearing the younger woman's words. Sunny waved with a half smile and shot her a thumbs-up. Veronica nodded at her friend as she left. She regarded Kaz with a sigh and indicated a chair.

Kaz moved toward her and after adjusting her leather armor she sat across from the short haired scribe. She was wearing a set of lightweight Brotherhood explorer armor. Her hood was nowhere to be seen revealing her short, pretty hair to the light of the room. Her equally pretty face was scrunched up with sadness, but there was also a look in the young scribe's eyes that said she was happy to see Kaz. Or at least relieved she was not dead.

"Veronica…" Kaz began. She had a hard time finding any words. Her mind was a jumble of different thoughts. Her heart was pleading with her to listen to it, rather than the express lane of thoughts rushing through her head. She breathed deep and searched the scribe's eyes for an ounce of proof that she even wanted her in the same room. The fact that her friend had let her sit down was a good start.

"Veronica…I deeply hurt and troubled you. I likely scared you to death. When I started thinking clearly, my first thought was that I missed you. I know what I did was so very wrong. You were just trying to help, and I brushed you off like you were nothing." Kazdin began.

Her blue eyes settled on Veronica's dark eyes. She had the beginnings of tears but composed herself very well. Her pink lips trembled with the effort not to give in and just throw her arms around Kaz.

"Veronica, you are not nothing. Maybe…maybe I didn't care as much as I thought I did. That's not your fault, that was all me. I am to blame and I feel so miserable for what I did."

"Where the fuck _were_ you?" Veronica asked in a husky whisper. Her trembling lips caused her eyes to betray her and her tears fell. Her cheeks splashed crimson.

"I promised myself if I ever saw you again I would not cry. I wouldn't give you that satisfaction…" Veronica said. The sound of her tear filled voice crushed Kazdin as the sudden realization hit her that this was all her fault, that she caused this reaction.

"I would never be satisfied by that…" Kazdin tried but the scribe shushed her.

"Either let me speak or leave." Veronica said sharply. Kazdin shut her mouth and nodded. Veronica waited a beat before continuing.

"I said I wouldn't cry. I said I would ask you why you deserved my company. I told myself to be mad at you until it no longer hurt to think you were out there somewhere in the god damn wasteland being eaten by a mother fucking cazadore!" Veronica's tears were streaming and she was shouting now, but as Kazdin knew this was just what she deserved she sat and took it in stride. The sound of Veronica's voice made her ears hurt, but she would not flinch, she would lower her eyes knowing that she had asked for this and that this was the first step of many to eventually healing their friendship.

"I told myself after I left Sunny in Goodsprings to come back to the people who would rather have me out scavenging for useless technology that I would forget you existed because you obviously didn't give a fuck about little Veronica. No! She's just a dumb little scribe who can go on without me! It's not like she will worry or anything! Kaz, we've known each other for a fucking week at best! So why the fuck did this make me so angry? Why am I crying right now? Why did I break my promise to myself and cry like a pathetic little girl?" Veronica had risen and placed both hands on the table.

"Because no matter what I promised myself…No matter how much I wanted to brush you off, or be angry with you, or hate you until it didn't hurt so much to be brushed off by a girl I was really starting to like like so much dirt…No matter how I wanted to make you earn this forgiveness…I would rather throw my arms around you right now and kiss your lips and welcome you back into my life." Veronica said. She finally sat back down in her chair and dabbed at her eyes with her napkin.

"Veronica…I had no idea…" she whispered. Veronica nodded.

"Yeah. I was starting to really _like _you. But you were focused on being in love with that damn whiney traitor who wouldn't get his head out of his ass to see what a knockout brilliant catch you were. Then he went off, probably to rejoin the freaking military that controls his puppet strings, and I thought I may have a shot at maybe bonding with you. If not eventually becoming more, then just getting as close as we can as best friends one day in the future. Then you fucking fired me." Veronica said. Her voice took on a hard edge at the last sentence and Kazdin took it like a champion.

"Veronica, I don't deserve you. I deserve what you just said. Every single angry word, I deserved that. But I want to be with you and get to know you. I want to bond with you and be your best friend someday. But I don't deserve that." Kazdin said softly, daring to meet those beautiful dark orbs.

"Stop that Kaz. You deserve even more than that. I just don't know how bad you want it. How can I trust you right now? What if I come back only for you to make another mistake and go crazy and fire me again? How do I know you will be there for me the way I planned on being there for you? I wiped your tears away, Kaz. You wiped _me _away." Veronica said evenly. Kazdin nodded.

"I would say the same thing in your position. I am back in command of my own life. Sunny saw to that. I have to thank you for going to Sunny and telling her what happened. That led to Sunny confronting me in a bar where I was drowning. When she confronted me, I decided then and there to always be in control and not let anybody else control my life or my emotions. I don't blame you for not believing me. But I swear here and now Veronica, that I will earn it. I will earn your love one way or another." Kazdin swore.

Veronica noticed immediately. So Kazdin had claimed her life, her will, back. This pleased Veronica, but she kept her face stony. She wanted to see Kaz want it. She wanted to see how far Kaz would go to earn her favor. Veronica made her decision right then and there. Once Kaz had sufficiently prove herself to the scribe, she would forgive like nothing ever happened and she would be with Kaz to grow in friendship. Maybe perhaps one day in the future, they would grow to love one another.

_Hope springs eternal. _Veronica thought to herself as she watched Kazdin's back retreat out the door and into the background until it disappeared to be replaced with an image of her that lived within her mind.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Wandering the compound wasn't an option, although Kazdin certainly wanted to. The Elder's office was right up ahead and Kaz did not know what to do. She was nervous and she wanted to make a good first impression with the leader of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel chapter.

On one hand, ahead of her was the first step into a life she had only dreamt of. A life unafraid of the wars and regrets that came with her home in the Mojave. In power armor she could face the world with no fear.

On the other hand, following the path would be to change her future forever. A foreboding thought if ever there was one. It was a path she could never turn from once she started down its rocky and dusty trail.

To become a Paladin meant to become enemies with most of the factions vying for control of the desert area. Her biggest enemies would be the two armies she wanted no part of. One being a controlling and annexing bear and the other a salving, raping and marauding bull.

To wear the power armor would also bring her a measure of accomplishment. After all nobody bore the T-51 B without earning it. It would bring her credibility that her word would never be able to match above all, and if she would be the one to inspire change then she would need it.

The options swirled around in her mind like the winds of a tornado even as she stepped through the door.

The room around her seemed cavernous by comparison to the rest of the bunker. Nearly incongruous to the labyrinthine metal halls, the roof of the Elder's office seemed a good ten feet higher and the interior was very large and roomy. Sense of claustrophobia did not exist within the steel walls of this room.

"So you are the courier Veronica has told me so much about. Very nice to meet you." Nolan McNamara greeted, rising to shake Kazdin's diminutive hand. Kazdin could only focus on fighting to keep her astonished mouth closed so as not to look like an idiot in front of the leader of her childhood idols.

"My…me…uh, my pleasure to meet you, sir." Kazdin stammered. Nolan smiled.

"Please, you have done us a great service by eliminating a potential security threat. There is no need for you to be nervous." Nolan assured her. She gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded happily.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, sir." Kazdin said, managing not to squeal in delight.

"I can tell by your face that you are hardly able to contain your joy. I did not expect you to be so happy to be here." Nolan said allowing his white brows to rise in surprise.

"I have been enamored of the Brotherhood since I was a young girl. I have something of a history with your fine organization." Kazdin smiled. Nolan grinned understandingly.

"That is good news. Whereabouts are you from?" he asked.

"Dallas, Texas, sir." Kazdin said proudly.

"Vanderkamp?" he asked, referring to the Elder of the Dallas chapter. Kazdin shook her head with a confused look in her eye.

"No sir, the Elder I am familiar with is Evan Johanness. I never met an Elder named Vanderkamp." Kazdin said. She suddenly felt a tingle within as she realized that this was the most she was able to recall from her life before her bullet wound. She was remembering!

Nolan had been silent for a few moments before clearing his throat.

"I was not notified of a changing of Elders. Do you have any idea why Victor Vanderkamp was replaced?" Nolan asked.

Kazdin did think hard. It was possible that her amnesia had made her forget this Elder Vanderkamp, but that made no sense as she could remember Johanness with clarity.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't remember anybody named Vanderkamp. I don't recall when I met Mister Johanness. Only that he rescued me from some raider attack on my home in Reunion Tower, but that is all I can remember." Kazdin said with an apologetic look.

"When was this?" Nolan asked thoughtfully.

"It happened when I was fourteen. I am twenty-five now." Kazdin said. Nolan nodded.

"2269…" Nolan said thoughtfully before shaking his balding head as if clearing a bad thought away. Kazdin was too polite to pursue the matter further and so she simply stood patiently with a polite smile.

"In any event it is nice to meet a person who has some positive experience with us." Nolan said appreciatively. He paused for a moment before he leaned forward, business on his mind.

"So, you stand here in the heart of our Mojave base, but as I am sure you can see, our members cannot move about during the day. Between the threats of the NCR and the advancing of the power hungry Caesar's Legion it is not safe for our diminished strength." Nolan said with a weary sigh.

"What happened?" Kazdin asked, crossing her arms.

"To put it simply, Helios One happened." Nolan explained.

"I don't understand, sir." Kazdin admitted.

"Father Elijah who was our Elder before me had his mind set on taking the Helios One solar power plant. We all protested. I protested this move myself but he would not be dissuaded. Even your friend Veronica, who was enamored of him beyond simple respect, explained that his ambitions would only get us killed and turn us into enemies of a major army who were wary of us in the first place."

"So she was never at Helios One?" Kazdin asked.

"No. None of the existing Mojave Brotherhood was. The contingent that went with Elijah was killed and only he escaped. It was a colossal blunder and Elijah was exiled and I took the leadership. I immediately locked the bunker down. The NCR labeled the entire Brotherhood an enemy and that's the way it has been for a year now." Nolan explained.

Kaz blanched. The NCR declared the whole of the Brotherhood enemies for what a rogue unit did? She held in her rational mind that this was a very good example of miscommunication. It was possible that there was no way the NCR could know that the faction who attacked them was a splinter group.

That's what Boone would say. The thought of the sniper made her face burn with anger, but a small part of Kazdin's mind retained that she missed him.

The roughness of the short relationship would not stand. If she could ever forgive him, things would be different.

Kazdin sighed inwardly. She was thinking of an extremely unlikely future and she was no fortune teller.

"I don't now what to say. I have my own doubts about the NCR, but for them to declare you all as their enemy are just…I don't know…an overreaction." Kazdin said, allowing the annoyance to enter her speech. How she wished Boone was here.

"Could it be that command just didn't realize that Elijah's group was a splinter group?" Kazdin tried.

"The possibility had entered my mind before, but it didn't stand up to scrutiny among the order heads. Namely Head Paladin Tristan." Nolan said. Kazdin nodded slowly as the light of understanding spread into her eyes.

"Well surely the NCR's command isn't stupid enough to think the attack was a Brotherhood campaign if the Head Paladin was not even involved." Kazdin fumed.

"I hardly believe that they care, Miss Willow. We are their enemies and that is all they think about when they see a set of powered armor." Nolan sighed.

"That seems obvious. In my relatively short travels I have noticed that the NCR treats anybody they deem enemies like shit." Kazdin said, crossing her arms.

"That could be said about anybody's enemies." Nolan pointed out.

"That's true, but in the Bear's case, they treat these factions like shit whether they deserve it or not. They treat the Brotherhood and the Khans the same way they would treat the fiends, for example." Kazdin argued.

"Different reasons, although the end result is the same." Nolan agreed. Kaz nodded and paced as she elaborated.

"The fiends are drug-crazed lunatics who will attack anyone, so I can see how the NCR is justified in their war against them. And don't get me started on the Legion." Kaz said.

"But…" Nolan inquired as he reclined in his seat, a look of admiration on his grey-blue eyes.

"Well I don't know what the Khans did to piss off the NCR so badly, but the war crimes the NCR perpetrated at Bitter Springs were unforgivable. Even more despicable was the fact that the cowards hid behind the red tape of the matter and labeled it a miscommunication. A cosmic oops, my bad situation. And why the wanton murder of civilians and children? So the army could forcibly take the real estate for yet another crappy army camp.

Maybe if the soldiers were all fucking high, I could understand how the sick and women, even the elderly could be mistaken for enemies. However even in the dark I have a very hard time believing that children could be mistaken for combatants unless the Khans had a bunch of midgets who were trained to attack and catch an enemy unaware, but I highly doubt that is the case."

Kazdin had stopped pacing and sighed as she allowed a tear to escape.

"The NCR murdered children and called it a miscommunication to cover their asses. Even in the darkest dark and average man can tell the difference between a man attacking and a small child running for their lives." Kazdin said. Nolan nodded with understanding.

"So you understand why we are underground. The NCR will destroy anything and anybody who they deem a threat to their annexations." Nolan said.

"Not while I live and breathe." Kazdin stated evenly.

"You are but one woman." Nolan explained calmly.

"I wish to speak to you about that." Kazdin said after a deep breath.

"I want to know what I can do to become more than one woman. I want to be a part of something greater. I want to be a Sister of Steel."

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Apprentice Watkins walked the perimeter for what seemed the thousandth time that day. She hated guard duty more than sitting through the monotonous lectures that her instructor gave her day by day. At least in class she could pretend to pay attention while doodling or writing in her favored journal. While on guard duty she had to walk around.

Watkins pondered skipping out and finding Initiate Stanton. She and Stanton had been friends since childhood and she enjoyed watching the handsome teen squirm when she suggested they go on some adventure that would likely lead them into trouble.

An explosion rocked the bunker, interrupting her reverie and causing the young woman to tighten her grip on her laser rifle. Her pink lips opened as wide as her deep blue eyes. She tightened the rubber band holding her bright blonde hair into her ponytail. She didn't quite understand why she did this. Probably just a nervous reaction to a situation she had never been in.

_This wasn't just an accident. _She told herself as she jogged along with the knights up the stairs and toward the security station. Her brain nagged at her that this wasn't a very good idea, but she could not convey that message to her legs which kept up with the longer limbs of her brothers.

Watkins took a breath and let it out shakily as she entered into the security room behind her brothers. She ducked behind a hastily made barricade created by one of two steel tables that had once inhabited the room that Paladin Ramos usually inhabited. The steel surfaces had been pressed into service and they reluctantly protected bodies encased in power armor.

Watkins brought the iron sights of her laser rifle to her eye and held her breath nervously as the first clinks upon the single remaining steel door keeping the intruders out resounded. Safeties clicked off and Watkins readied herself for battle.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"What you are asking me _is _highly irregular, but there are plenty of things we need done. If you prove to be an asset I would say we would take you on gladly." McNamara said as he rubbed his lightly stubbled chin thoughtfully.

"Whatever it takes, Elder…" Kazdin began.

The Elder, his guards, the Head Paladin, Kazdin and Sunny all heard the initial explosion at once.

"Brothers, we are under attack! Every man to their stations now!" McNamara yelled into his intercom. He hit the red button beneath his desk and klaxons blared while a flickering blue force field appeared over the only entrance into or out of the room, effectively blocking themselves from attack.

Kazdin whipped her head around after she had stared in shock at the force field.

"What are you doing? We need to join them! We need to help them defend this place!" Kazdin said. She was relieved when she realized that she was holding her panic in and while she raised her voice, she did not lose her head. She felt a jolt of pride that told her that she was learning to be a leader.

"If that is the NCR then they will not hesitate to put a bullet in all of us. If there is any hope of survival then we will need to negotiate." McNamara defended. "They will be unable to breach these barriers! We will be safe."

"Sometimes being a leader means putting yourself in danger to protect the ones you love." Kazdin reasoned. Sunny smiled at her and while she caught it, Kaz made no movement to acknowledge it. Now was not the time.

"They hate us all. Their first objective will be to kill the Order Heads." McNamara said in panic.

"Do you love the Brotherhood, Elder?" Sunny cut in. Kaz stepped aside to let the smaller redhead to ascend to the top of the stage to look the Elder fully in the eye.

"Of course I do…But the NCR's hit squads…they scare me." McNamara said, his voice quivery.

"We all feel fear, McNamara. I made this same mistake you are making now. Being indecisive leads to reckless and stupid decisions." Kazdin said from experience.

"If you love the Brotherhood as much as you claim, then you need to put that barrier down and allow Kaz, myself and the Order Heads into the fray." Sunny said firmly.

The first sounds of bullet and laser fire sounded, drawing the worried stare of Elder McNamara toward the door blocked by the shimmering blue force field. He stared helplessly back at Kazdin.

"They are right, Elder. As the Head Paladin, I need to be out there with them. We can NOT lose today or we will be eradicated." Head Paladin Hardin said loudly. The action loving Paladin had had enough of the indecision. He slammed his palms on the Elder's desk, making the other three crowded around it jump.

The screams of Brotherhood members carried through the steel construct like electricity, perfectly conducted and brought Elder McNamara to a decision. With a defeated sigh he pressed the button once again and the barrier flickered out of existence. With a hard as steel look, Hardin placed his helmet over his head and nodded to the two women before him.

Kazdin and Sunny followed him out, readying their weapons.

"Sunny, you have a shotgun, but my rifle has armor piercing rounds so you go ahead and be ready for anyone who gets close. I will cover you from medium range. Alright?" Kazdin said firmly, looking at her friend. Sunny visibly shuddered.

"I fucking love you, bitch." Sunny grinned. Kaz smiled back.

"You too." Kaz said.

The two women exited the Elder's office a few paces behind Hardin, Sunny in front of Kaz. The second level was free of NCR soldiers, but was even more fortified than the upper level due to importance.

"Ladies, front and center!" Kaz and Sunny stepped forward at attention.

"When we get up there, you will defer to me and we will get out of this alive. Understood?" Hardin shouted above the din.

"Yes sir!" Kaz and Sunny shouted, their eyes displaying their readiness for battle.

"Good, since I have thicker armor, I'm out front. Redhead one, you're behind me. Kaz, cover us with that rifle. Understood?" Hardin reiterated Kazdin's orders. Both women answered in the affirmative and Hardin opened the blast door before all three exited and Hardin shut and locked the door once again.

The stairwell the trio found themselves within was bathed in red emergency lights.

"Fuck! The first thing they would do is cut the electricity. That means they overran the security room! If they got Ramos…" Hardin shouted.

"Sir, take these!" Kazdin shouted, pressing a capsule of cateye into his palm. She handed a pill to Sunny and swallowed one herself.

"VERY good, Kaz." Hardin complimented. Kaz nodded and Hardin led the trio up the stairs and through a second blast door.

As soon as the door rose, Hardin's armor was hit by a blast of bullets. They plinked to the ground, having not struck in between the steel plates. Hardin immediately liquefied the offending NCR ranger with a blast of his Gauss Rifle. The resulting shower of blood and organs made Sunny's mouth gape open.

"You sure you want to join me?" Kaz teased. Sunny nodded.

"Yea, of course. I've just never seen anything like that." Sunny answered, stepping over the puddle.

"Don't worry, you get used to it." Kazdin assured her. "Let's just get going."

Sunny nodded and proceeded behind Hardin. She aimed her shotgun as the trio rounded the corner. Hardin crouched and pointed at his eyes and then at the two busted turrets in the main hall.

Sunny was surprised by a ranger clad in full riot armor. Sunny screamed but brought the barrel of her shotgun up into the face of the ranger and squeezing the trigger once, twice, three times, she separated the ranger's head from his shoulders and she was immediately drenched in blood. She slowed her panicked breathing and grimaced. She pulled the trigger again, blasting the former ranger's body into oblivion. The anger in her eyes did not abate as the sound of gunfire erupted from toward the bunks.

"They are pinned down." Hardin shouted as Kazdin moved beside him and started popping off shots with her armor piercing rounds.

"How do you know?" Kaz shouted as she scored a beautiful headshot on a female ranger, causing her to slam bodily into the steel doorjamb.

"They are not moving forward or retreating. That tells me that they are still fighting Brotherhood behind them." Hardin answered. He moved into cover and produced a laser pistol and slid it toward Sunny.

"Redhead one, move to the bathroom doorjamb and start firing on ''em." Hardin shouted pointing toward to hallway opposite their position.

"The name's Sunny!" Sunny shouted.

"Why would that matter right now?" Hardin shouted, scoring a body shot with his Gauss Rifle on a ranger who chose that moment to try and move up the hallway toward their position.

"Just thought it'd be easier for you to give me orders if you knew my name!" Sunny shouted as she waited for Kaz and Hardin to cover her. When their shots rang out, Sunny moved and ducked behind the wall of the bathroom before pointing the death end of her laser pistol down the hall and squeezing the trigger when she saw sandy brown clothes or black armor poke their heads from cover.

Sunny fired on two heavily armored rangers but had to duck back when a .357 round from the ranger's cowboy repeater struck the steel an inch from her head.

"I'm stuck!" Sunny cried.

"The term is _pinned down._" Kazdin shouted.

"**Great **to know! Take care of the fuckers!" Sunny shouted. Kaz giggled as she moved and fired an armor piercing round directly through the head of one of the rangers and as the remaining man turned his repeater toward Kazdin's position Sunny moved from cover and fired her lasers at the ranger, hitting him with three of the four shots. He fell into a pile of ash and Sunny shouted with joy.

"Clear!" came a voice from the other end of the bunker hall, from toward the target range.

"Clear!" Hardin shouted back. He signaled his partners and they both nodded and joined him. Sunny placed her pistol on her hip.

"Sunny, don't put your gun away! Why is it that every NPC does that when there are still enemies around?" Kaz said incredulous.

"Well, I thought that since there were no more enemies in about twenty feet around me we would be safe…plus my weapons are heavy…my arms need a break." Sunny said, trying to explain herself while she also wondered why she would put her weapon away in the middle of battle. She pulled her shotgun and cradled it.

"There are still enemies in the building, Sunny!" Kazdin scolded.

"Okay, it won't happen again. Geez!" Sunny cried.

"Schuler! Is everything clear over there?" Hardin asked.

"Yes sir, but the elite rangers are holed up tight in the security room. They have the high ground and are expert tacticians." Scribe Schuler said as she moved close.

Kazdin noticed that Schuler and…well, everyone but herself, Sunny and Hardin had all put their weapons away.

"Hey! Why did everyone put their rifles away? What the fuck?" Kazdin demanded angrily.

"We're safe for the moment." Schuler said with a shrug, rifle still clinging snugly to her back.

"Dude! A ranger making a trip to the fucking bathroom could unload on you and kill half of you before you had a chance to lift your rifles again! How is that safe? Like, at all?" Kazdin asked.

"Well, we just thought since they were on our backs and not, like, in our packs that we could just put them away and still be good. Plus our weapons are heavy and…" Schuler said before Kazdin interrupted with a loud growl.

"Everyone, seriously, weapons out! Damn it!" Kazdin said. With a resigned sigh Schuler nodded to the rest of the surviving Brotherhood behind her to take out their weapons and hold them.

"Anyway…" Hardin said casting a hard glance at Kaz, "What advantages do we have?"

There was a silence while everybody thought of anything they could use.

"Well, unless the door above is blown open, they are all probably in one space, close together." Kazdin thought. Sunny looked up.

"So we toss a grenade and then boom." She added. Hardin smiled and nodded.

"That is genius." Hardin said placing a congratulating hand upon Sunny's shoulder. Knight Torres placed a grenade in Kazdin's hand.

Kaz nodded and turned to Sunny.

"If this goes to hell, Sunny…" Kazdin started. She placed a single finger against her lips to shush her.

"Don't say goodbye yet. I'm going with you." Sunny said.

"But we both don't need to…" Kazdin started.

"If you make it an order, I will comply. But I want to come with you. I love you Kaz. I think of you as a great friend, and I really, really _really _do not want to stay behind." Sunny said. Kaz smiled warmly.

"You don't even know me that well." Kaz said.

"I've known you longer than anyone else in your life. Besides even if I didn't you are a very charming woman." Sunny answered with a shrug. Kazdin nodded.

"Alright, come on but stay low and quiet." Kaz said with a smile. Sunny nodded.

"Far as we can tell there are six of them up in the security area. But we have no idea whether or not they are huddled together or spread out in the outer rooms." Torres said helpfully.

"There should be three or four in the security room, likely helping one another with the logistics." Hardin answered.

"So we take down four of them and two remain." Kaz said thoughtfully.

"That's the best we can do when they have the advantage. We send up a platoon and we get massacred. They would hear us coming and an assault rifle will clear us out. This armor is thick but with enough punishment it'll breach." Hardin explained.

"No, this is a good plan." Kazdin nodded.

"It's the best we can do." Hardin reiterated. Kazdin shook her head.

"No, this will go well. Me and Sunny will go up top sneakily and hopefully cook most of them with a grenade and we can kill the rest." Kazdin said.

"So it's agreed?" Schuler said.

"Yes." Kaz said. Sunny nodded.

"We will corral outside the stairwell door and we will fight like hell if for some reason you don't make it." Torres promised.

"Alright. Let's do this." Kazdin said.

Kaz and Sunny crouched and slowly crept up the stairs. Their shoes made nary a sound as they ascended. Their breaths were quiet as they strode the metal staircase. Kaz held out a hand as they neared the top.

There was no way to look above the top step without giving themselves away. Kazdin looked at Sunny and rolled her eyes. They joined hands and Kazdin placed her forefinger through the rounded hole in the pin.

"I won't say a fucking word!" Kazdin heard. She gasped and her blue eyes shot open.

_Veronica! _Kaz thought wide eyed.

Sunny had the same look and she stared into Kazdin's eyes.

"What do we do?" Sunny mouthed silently. Kazdin replaced the grenade into her pack and pulled her gun from her shoulders. Sunny hesitated, an are-you-sure look in her eyes. Kaz nodded and Sunny pulled her shotgun.

"Veronica." Kazdin mouthed silently. Her look was as serious as she had ever been.

Sunny nodded.

"She won't talk. Put her down." Came the emotionless tone of the woman who was apparently the leader.

"Over my dead body!" Kazdin shouted as she popped from cover and placed an armor piercing bullet cleanly through the forehead of the woman standing before Veronica's huddled form and training her pistol on her head. She was dead before she could think to pull the trigger.

Veronica dove for cover and the two women in the stairwell opened fire, killing most of the occupants before diving back into cover.

"Veronica is safe now." Kaz said while bullets rained into the stairwell. She pulled the pin and looked over the top stair and sent the grenade into the middle of the three remaining rangers.

Their cries of terror were music to Kazdin's ears as the grenade exploded and killed them.

"One left murderer." The leader said mockingly.

"The best there is I assume?" Kazdin called from cover.

"You better believe it." The leader said, the grin evident on her face.

"You're high right now." Kaz called out nonchalantly.

"Say again, bitch?" the leader said.

"I would say a cocktail of Psycho and Buffout. Another failed test in NCR politics." Kazdin said derisively.

"What are you doing?" Sunny asked quietly.

"Pissing her off." Kaz said.

"Failed experiment? You already have a death wish, you want to die slow while you're at it bitch?" the other woman shouted.

"I love a challenge." Kazdin grinned.

"Fine, no weapons for either of us. I will beat the hell out of you!" the woman said with a mocking laugh.

"Bring it on." Kazdin said. She unclipped her belt and left her rucksack with Sunny.

"You're not seriously going to…" Sunny began but couldn't finish.

"Trust me. I am well-trained." Kaz said. She left cover with her hands out, palms out to show she was unarmed.

A tall Hispanic woman approached Kaz and grinned sadistically.

"Dilated pupils, quickened breaths, sweating profusely. Classic symptoms of Psycho addiction. So…The NCR is using drugs to bring their soldiers out of their right minds. Some kind of super-soldier bullshit?" Kazdin mused as she brought her fists up and started a sinister circle of death as she faced the ranger woman.

The woman struck first, but was predictably erratic. Kazdin was clear minded and could see the attack coming and dodged right before bringing her elbow to smash into the woman's mouth. Her lips split opening with a satisfying smack. Blood coated Kazdin's arm while she rolled to the left and brought her clenched fist to connect with the back of the woman's neck, dazing her.

Kazdin buried her knee into the taller woman's lower back, bruising her spine. The psycho made her meaner, but did nothing more than blur pain. The woman cried out as she sunk to her knees, but she unpredictably refused to yield.

With a grimace of hate the woman brought her fist up into the unprotected jaw of the woman who one second ago was winning the fight. Her teeth clacked together and Kazdin swore she heard one crack. The blood falling down her chin confirmed her suspicions.

When the NCR woman stood to her feet she rushed Kazdin and rammed her shoulder into her gut effectively pinning her to the ground. Fist after fist connected with Kazdin's jaw and nose. Kaz was reeling in pain when she noticed the ranger reach into a side pocket in her jeans and produce a switchblade. She switched it open and moved to stab Kazdin with the distended blade. Kazdin caught her arm and pushed up with all of her might.

The ranger pushed her forearm into Kazdin's throat and she struggled to breath. Her vision blackened and her arm was slowly losing its strength. The cold steel blade inched lower and lower until the tip touched Kazdin's throat.

Suddenly Kazdin felt no more pressure upon her throat and felt no more pinch of sharpened steel at her neck. She opened her eyes to see a very wide eyed and startled Latino woman in NCR ranger fatigues with two large but feminine hands wrapped around her neck and the side of her head.

An inhuman howl accompanied the sick crunch of bone as the leader of the wolf pack's head was twisted into a lethal angle. The dead woman was thrown to the side.

Kazdin's first thought was that Sunny was too small help in that way, less powerful than Kazdin herself. Veronica was tied up in cover. Who was this mysterious new presence?

Kazdin looked up, but the light was in her eyes. She saw the blood streaked hand before her body and she reached up and took it tentatively. The hand she gripped surged with power as it squeezed Kazdin's. With not even a grunt the mysterious hand pulled Kaz to her feet.

"You're alright soldier." Came a low toned but doubtlessly female voice. Kazdin's eyes focused and the woman before her came into startling clarity within seconds. Before Kazdin stood a stout and well muscled woman in a filthy white tank top and what looked to be the remains of a tattered leather dress being used as a skirt and held up by suspender's made of rope,

Her short dark blonde hair was wavy and equally dirty, spotted with equal parts mud and blood. Her brown eyes were devoid of feeling, but filled with righteous hate. However when the eyes examined Kazdin herself, the emotions within switched to something of worry and pity.

She was very well built but still decidedly beautiful in a lethal sort of way. Her face had bruises around her left eye and her right cheek. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and Kaz could tell the woman's nose had been broken multiple times.

"Kazdin!" Sunny shouted. Veronica was approaching as well, her cuffed hands before her.

"Thank you. You saved my life." Kazdin said. The woman nodded. Her sad eyes still filled with wariness and anger.

Kaz moved toward Veronica and examined her bound wrists. She bent to examine the leader and checked her pockets, producing a key to Veronica's cuffs. She unlocked them and they fell to the floor with a clank.

Veronica hugged Kaz and she held it before releasing the scribe and turning back to her mysterious rescuer.

"May I have your name please? I really would like to know the beautiful woman who saved my life." Kazdin tried, hoping she sounded charismatic.

The other woman tilted her head. After a few moments silence she spoke up.

"My name is Stella." She said. Kazdin smiled and nodded her head respectfully.

"Thank you again, Stella. I owe you." Kazdin said.

"Good, because I plan to collect. I hear you hate the NCR and you are one of their biggest worries. That's a start." Stella said, her feminine voice dripping with hatred and venom.

"An enemy of the NCR is a friend of mine." Kazdin said. She extended a hand.

"Welcome to the team, ex-ranger Stella."

Stella shook Kazdin's hand and a smile slid slowly across her face.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"Kazdin, if it were not for you and your allies the Brotherhood would be no more. I owe you a debt of gratitude." Elder McNamara said.

"Thank you, sir." Kazdin said gently, smiling at the older man's words.

"A discussion with the rest of the Order Heads has revealed something that I already had been thinking about. That is that my fears have clouded my judgment. I am no longer the leader that I need to be. My failure to prevent Helios One and my stubborn inaction in the battle earlier today have forced me to concede that I am no longer the leader this chapter needs. I step down, but not before I bestow upon you, Kaz, full membership within the Brotherhood of Steel." Elder McNamara said, gesturing towards her.

"I am humbled, sir. However I cannot accept that at this time." Kaz said, declining politely.

"You told me this was what you wanted." McNamara said, visibly shocked. Kazdin nodded.

"More than anything." She said. "However, I don't want this handed to me. I need to earn this. I don't feel that I have done everything I can to earn my membership." Kazdin said.

"Alright, as you wish. I will allow the next Elder to decide your requirements for joining us." McNamara said.

"When it comes to electing a new Brotherhood Elder, I think it needs to be someone who can effect change." Kazdin said, crossing her arms. McNamara blinked.

"What do you mean?" McNamara asked.

"Since when do you decide who the new Elder will be?" Hardin demanded, crossing his arms.

"If you all continue to make enemies, then one day there will be so many that even with all our forces unified on their best day, we will be overrun and destroyed." Kazdin said.

"So what, we wield peace? We will be pushovers." Hardin said incredulously.

"Not necessarily. We defend ourselves and continue on our mission to collect technology of course. We should not be pushed around by anybody. However there are areas we need to improve upon." Kazdin said, standing her ground.

Veronica's eyes were glued to the other woman. She had not yet discussed her thoughts on current Brotherhood politics, but this was exactly what needed to happen. She studied Kaz carefully as she spoke.

"Today we lost a quarter of our troops. Stanton, Watkins, many high ranking Paladins and even a few scribes. But what happens if we make even more enemies? We lose more and more until this chapter is dead. We need a change of policy." Kazdin said, gesturing.

"Granted, this was not our fault. The NCR has attacked us unwarranted and I have seen with my own eyes that they are drugging their elite soldiers, which I believe caused the various massacres that have happened over this past year. The NCR is a demon and given time will overrun us all and they need to be stopped now. But if you want the Brotherhood to survive another year there need to be changes."

"Like what?" Hardin asked, moving closer to Kazdin as they debated.

"How about instead of being a detriment to the people of New Vegas we become an asset? Stop relying on force all the time and start helping others in order for them to help us in the future. Start making deals and becoming useful, a group the people of the wasteland want around rather than being a humungous burden? The Followers help and are welcomed with open arms, we hinder and are rejected." Kazdin argued.

"The Codex is our rulebook. We can't go against it." Hardin interjected.

"The codex has been good to the Brotherhood in the past, that is true. But the time has come to either add to the codex or be eliminated, a forgotten past piece of history in the Mojave wasteland." Kazdin said. There was a silent stare down between Kaz and Hardin. Even Hardin looked unsure.

"She's right." McNamara sighed. His eyes looked defeated.

Every eye was then trained on McNamara.

"Veronica tried to tell me so many times that our ways are outdated. We lost so many good men and women today. Hardin, you will not be the Elder of this chapter. But I am out of ideas for whom to appoint who will not continually mire our name the way I have over all of these years." McNamara said sadly.

"Sir, what about Veronica?" Kaz said softly, laying a comforting hand upon McNamara's shoulder. His gaze shifted to hers, although not as swiftly as Veronica's.

"What do you mean?" McNamara asked.

"She is young, yes. But you said she has all of these ideas that I have. I would do it myself but I am not a homebody type. And I'm not even a member yet. But Veronica knows what's best for the Brotherhood here and I believe she could lead you admirably." Kazdin said.

"There is the issue of age yes. From a political standpoint there is a wealth of experience needed to effectively run a Brotherhood contingent." McNamara said.

"I appreciate the gesture, Kaz." Veronica chimed in with a smile.

"Sir. I'll do it. I volunteer to lead this chapter within the ideals expressed by both Kazdin and Veronica. No more lockdown and we will make strides to become a friend to the surrounding area. We will actively seek new tech, but at the same time help those who need us and assist in whatever capacity we can, therefore we can make a few friends rather than only enemies all the time."

The voice which chimed into the conversation was the voice of Scribe Schuler. She looked up with determination on her face. McNamara turned to look at Head Paladin Hardin for his opinion.

He finally shrugged.

"As long as we end this ridiculous lockdown." He quipped. McNamara nodded his head.

"Then before I step down as Elder, I appoint in my place Linda Schuler, Elder of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel." There came a chorus of applause and a few grumbles from various old school members, but the predominant emotion was one of joy at the new Elder's post. Veronica moved toward Schuler and embraced her.

Kazdin made her way out of the crowd and toward the bunk rooms. She sat on the edge of the bed and cried tears of joy at truly making a difference in the lives of other people. She heard a knock on the doorjamb and looked up to see a very teary Veronica.

"Kaz…you changed our lives. Thank you. I think you've proven yourself." Veronica said with a happy grin. Kazdin stood and moved to embrace Veronica who accepted it readily.

When they separated, Kaz looked at Veronica and smiled.

"Thank you. But Ronnie, I haven't even begun to prove myself."

"Nevertheless. I want to join you. I forgive you Kaz and I want to be with you again." Veronica said. Kaz grinned and nodded.

"Welcome back. And thank you." Kaz said, hugging Veronica again. Veronica moved back a few inches and pressed a long warm kiss to Kazdin's lips. Kaz didn't move to break the loving lip lock, entranced by the pressure, the warmth and the taste of her friend's mouth. There was no tongue pleading for entrance, only a long lasting kiss of friendship, a little bit of lust and a hope for future love within the lip lock.

When they separated, both Kaz and Veronica struggled to breath.

"Veronica, will you come back to stay?" Kazdin said when she finally found her voice once again.

"Let's go make trouble." Veronica answered with the light of respect and friendship burning bright within her dark eyes.

Kazdin would never hurt her again.

**A/N: and there we go ladies and gentlemen, chapter ten which turned out to be longer than I thought it would be, but with as special as this chapter was to me I felt that it needed to have some real substance, especially given the short stature of the last couple of chapters. **

**Welcome ex-Ranger Stella into the group! Yaaaaay ex-Ranger Stella! Will she help our heroes in their war against the NCR? Is she a sleeper agent placed in Kazdin's inner circle? Will she snap one day and murder our heroes? Only one way to find out.**

**Also within the next couple of chapters we focus more on Colonel Moore's history and why she's a stark raving bitch. I will also attempt to bring her out more into the light and make her one of the main bad guys.**

**Finally, as I have mentioned in my re edit of my profile, I will reiterate right here officially that everything from here on out will be AU. All chapters before this were more or less canon with a few minor tweaks by me for the purpose of my story. I am a Fallout veteran. So I know that technically Stella does not appear until after Station Charlie's downfall which I haven't even hinted at (and probably will not until we get into Stella's back-story). I also know that canonically Stella is very pro NCR and kills all those elite Legionnaires because of her love for NCR and hatred of the Legion. **

**But this is exactly why I am going to place an AU tag in my description. From here on out we go out of canon for the game and I will tell you a very good story on my own. Awesome Stella companion! Enemy NCR! Changes in the Brotherhood! Explaining Moore's insufferable insanity and outright bitchiness! So much goodies on da way!**

**I love all my readers and fans and I hope you enjoy this chapter slightly more than you enjoyed the other chapters. Keep reading and reviewing and being all around in touch with me. Peace. **

**-FalloutGuy**


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